


Jaune Arc: Fullmetal Huntsman

by Tontom



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2020-10-03 21:42:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20459939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tontom/pseuds/Tontom
Summary: Alchemy. The ancient semblance that has thought to be long lost. The ability to reconstruct and deconstruct matter to the user's will. A piece of lead could be made into the purest form of diamond. This power so happens to lie in the hands of one particular naive blonde boy who plans on going to Beacon Academy to become a Huntsman. This is the story of the Fullmetal Huntsman.(Major plot divergence later in the story)(Cross-posted from fanfiction.net)





	1. Vale is Alive Tonight

* * *

In a dust shop in Vale, it was quite empty. The only two people in the shop were an old man, who was the shop owner, and a young girl in a red cape with silver eyes and black hair that is tipped with red, reading a magazine about weapons and listening to music.

It was a peaceful night that was until a group of men in matching black suits and hats with weapons entered the shop. They were all led by a man in white with orange hair and a bowler hat.

The man in white approached the front desk manned by the old man.

"Do you have any idea it is to find a dust shop this late?" the man asked rhetorically.

"Please just take my lien and leave," the poor old man begged.

"Calm down we're not here for your money," the man reassured, "Grab the dust," the men in black then gathered the dust in the store.

One goon approached the girl, who was clearly not aware of what was happening at all.

"Hey, kid!" the goon shouted as he tugged on her shoulder.

The girl calmly turned around and saw what the fuss was. The goon pointed toward his ear trying to get the girl to take off her headphones. She did so and asked, "Yes?"

The goon looked very irritated and barked, "Put your hands u-"

He was interrupted by the door swinging open revealing a tall lean blond boy with blue eyes wearing a black sweatshirt, white gloves, and headphones that played music.

The boy stopped and looks at the scene in front of him. He takes off his headphones and asks, "You guys robbing this place?"

"Yes, we are." The bowler hat guy sneered.

"Oohhhh."

The boy slyly smirks at the statement and cracks his knuckles. He then claps his hands together causing blue lightning to course through the air around him.

A sword began to form from the floor of the shop. He grabbed the sword and got into a fighting stance and smiled a genuine smile. He scans the goons and simply says, "Let's do this."

Almost immediately the men charged the boy expecting an easy fight. What they did not expect, however, is them being thrown out the window with minimal effort.

The bowler hat man took this as his cue to leave. He quickly got the dust he managed to collect and dashed as fast he can outside through the window only to be stopped by the girl in red now wielding a large red scythe.

"Oh, this is just great," the man complained.

The men charged the scythe-wielding girl. The girl manages to kick a goon in the face using her scythe as support. She then fired a bullet out of the scythe using the momentum to take out a whole wave of goons.

"Hey, save some action for me," the boy said playfully as he joined the girl in beating up some poor fools.

The girl smiled as she and the boy made quick work of the goons. As the last man got thrown around by the boy and the girl. The poor goon was hurled before the bowler hat man's presence. He looks at the fallen goon disappointed and mutters sarcastically,

"You were worth every cent truly you were." The man then looked at the dynamic duo in front of him, "Well I am afraid this freak show has to end."

He pointed his cane at the general direction of the duo as they stared at him with cautious looks.

His cane then fires toward the duo. The boy sees this and quickly dashes in front of the girl keeping her as close to him as possible and claps his hands and plants them on the ground. Suddenly a tall, thick wall quickly ascends from the ground to protect the couple from the shot.

The boy looks behind him to see the girl, looking at him with sparkles in her eyes. She then opens her mouth to quickly speak,

"Howdidyoudothatdid?Isityoursemblance?Areyouahuntsmen?IfsocanIget yourautogr-" the boy gently puts his finger up to her lips gesturing her to stop talking causing her to blush.

"I will tell you later," the boy said with a smile, "but right now we need to stop that crook. Miss?"

"O-oh it's Ruby R-Rose" the girl stuttered.

"Ruby huh. I like it." The boy responded.

As the wall quickly descended, the duo sees the man climbing a ladder which led to a roof. They quickly followed him and Ruby shouted, "Stop!"

The man stops near the edge of the roof and mutters, "Persistent."

Suddenly, a bullhead quickly rises in front of the man, which he quickly jumped on.

"Well, you two it has been my displeasure." The man remarked. "Fortunately for me, this will be the last time we meet." He said as he threw a fire crystal toward the duo.

The boy saw this and once again got in front of Ruby. He prepares to clap his hands together, but suddenly two fingers snapping is heard and a powerful stream of fire engulfs the red dust crystal.

The boy and Ruby look behind them to see a raven-haired girl in a red dress with her right hand covered with red gloves raised toward the bullhead. Once the boy's blue eyes met her amber eyes he smiled. "Hey Cinder."

The girl then looks at the boy and returns his smile, "Hey yourself, Jaune."

The now entitled boy known as Jaune, smirks and walks over to Cinder and hugs her. A red shade is made visible on her cheeks.

"Great," the man said, "this freak show can't get any worse."

Suddenly, a barrage of purple strings of light starts to assault the bullhead. The trio turns toward the source to see a blond lady with green eyes covered by glasses wielding a riding crop.

"Me and my dumb mouth." The man mumbles and then realizes something, "Why are we still here, let's get the hell out of he-"

He was interrupted by the bullhead shaking violently. He looks to see the blond woman perpetually attacking the bullhead. He sighs as he grabs the cases of dust he collected and threw it at the quartet on the ground. He gets his cane out and shoots it.

But not before the lady got in front of them and quickly made a shield or some sort of forcefield with her powers. As the bullet hit the dust, there was a grand explosion of colors colliding.

As the smoke cleared, three things happened. First, Roman escaped empty-handed.

Second, Cinder and Jaune looked at each other for a moment and just smiled.

"I am guessing you are here to go to Beacon?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, I am" She responded.

Third and lastly, Ruby looked at the blond lady and Cinder with sparkles in her eyes and shouted,

"That... Was soooo cool! Can I get an autogr-"

"You three are coming with me. **Now,**" The blond lady said interrupting the now scared girl.

* * *

The trio is now in an interrogation room in which the lady is ranting about their decision to take on the now named criminal known as Roman Torchwick.

"If it were up to me, you three would be sent home with a pat on the back." the blond lady lectured.

The girl in red seemed to look proud at hearing these words, while Jaune was trying to stay awake and Cinder wasn't paying attention.

"**and** a slap on the wrist." The lady then strikes her riding crop on the table making Ruby squeak.

"Are you two even paying attention to me?!" The lady questioned Cinder and Jaune.

Jaune jolted up and quickly started apologizing.

Cinder gained an evil smile and responded,

"No, I wasn't paying attention to you, you old hag."

A vein appeared on her head and her eye was noticeably twitching.

"**What did you just call me?**" The blond lady asked trying to hold back her anger.

Jaune and Ruby were busy trying to hide their smile.

"What? You can't hear me with those dinosaur ears?" Cinder mocked, "I said I wasn't paying attention you _old hag_."

Ruby started laughing while Jaune kept his in somehow. The lady on the other hand looked like she was going to strangle Cinder.

"**You little shi-**"

The door then swings open revealing a skinny tall man in black with white hair.

"That's enough Glynda." The man said.

Glynda calmed down for the most part but she kept glaring at Cinder.

Ozpin then looks at Ruby very closely and states, "You have silver eyes."

"Yeah..." Ruby responds

"Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose and Tai Xiao-Long. Cinder Fall, adopted along with three others by Amber. And last but not least, Jaune Arc, son of Alex and Joan Arc," The man said without missing a beat.

The three mentioned teens were quite impressed by the man's knowledge of who they were. But they weren't surprised.

"I am assuming you all know who I am," the man said.

"Of course you're Ozpin, the head of Beacon Academy," Ruby responded.

Ozpin smirked at her acknowledgment of him. He got a plate of cookies out of nowhere and laid it on the table. Ruby dug into the plate while Jaune and Cinder watched Ruby engulf the plate effortlessly. They were almost impressed.

Ozpin then got a tablet out and played videos of Ruby fighting.

"Where did you learn to fight with the most dangerous weapon like this?" Ozpin asked Ruby, who was still eating cookies.

"I learned it from a teacher at Signal." She responded with her mouth full.

"I am guessing you learned it from a teacher named Qrow?" Ozpin questioned.

Ruby nods her head and says,

"That's my uncle," after swallowing a mouthful of cookies,

"I see," Ozpin says, "And you two have quite a history with each other." He says gesturing toward Cinder and Jaune.

"Yeah, that's right," Jaune confirmed.

"And you two are planning to go to Beacon?" Ozpin inquired.

"Planning to go? We are going." Cinder replied confidently.

"Well, judging from your transcripts and fighting ability that was shown tonight, Beacon welcomes you two with open arms," Ozpin remarked. "As for you." Ozpin looks at Ruby, "You are only 15 correct?"

Ruby deflates a little and says, "Yeah, my older sister is going, but I have to stay back because I am too young."

Cinder and Jaune eyes widen.

"Wait, you're only 15!" Jaune asks surprised.

"Why is that a problem?" Ruby asks weakly.

"Nononono. I didn't mean it like that!" Jaune reassured. "That is some amazing fighting! Probably, one of the best fighters I have ever seen!"

Ruby gains a blush and stutters, "T-T-Thank you.

Cinder looks at Ruby and scoffs. 'Great, now another girl likes Jaune.' Cinder thinks to herself. 'Competition is getting tougher and tougher.'

"Ok, back on topic." Ozpin says trying to get the conversation back on track, "How would you like to go to Beacon?"

Ruby's eye's lit up with sparkles.

"Of course take as much time as you nee-"

"**YES!**" Ruby shouted eagerly.

"Well, Ruby Rose welcome to Beacon young lady." Ozpin smiled.

Jaune smiled and gave Ruby a thumbs up. Cinder sees this and tries to calm herself. Emphasis on _tries._

"Great, can we go home now?" Cinder asked annoyed that Ruby is coming to Beacon.

"Yes, that is all," Ozpin says.

Everyone begins to leave until Ozpin stops Jaune,

"I need to talk to you."

Cinder and Ruby look back at Jaune with concern in her eyes. Jaune simply smiles at her, saying,"It's fine, just wait for me."

Cinder and Ruby nod and walk away.

Soon the only two people in the room were Jaune and Ozpin.

"I am guessing this is about my semblance?"

**To be continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: this is the first fanfic I ever wrote, but don't go easy on it. I want criticism. Anyways I made... well... "minor" changes to the original story like Cinder being good and Jaune being a good fighter. Of course, you will see many aspects and plot points from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
> 
> Also, I decided to make Cinder pretty much have the same ability as Roy Mustang because I think the two have a lot in common, they both have a stoic nature and of course control fire.
> 
> I also made a lot more changes in the story that you will see the next chapter.
> 
> Also, I am planning to make this a harem story with the lovable Blond Knight, Jaune.
> 
> But this story will diverge from the original story.
> 
> Also, I won't update very often, expect an update every two months.
> 
> Anyways that's it. See ya later.


	2. Arriving at Beacon

* * *

Jaune was having an interesting morning. He just left the bullhead and barely avoided throwing his guts up and now he is at a school that is in the sky. And he feels like crap.

Maybe it's because he didn't get any sleep from last night.

Maybe because he woke up late, almost missed the Bullhead.

Maybe because he couldn't find his friends in the ocean of students.

Maybe because his dad gave him one of his signature deadly hugs.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Yeah, that's probably it.

His thoughts were then interrupted by a familiar voice,

"Jaune?"

He looks to the source of the voice and sees a girl in a familiar red hood.

"Hey Ruby," Jaune smiled.

"You remember my name?" Ruby asked surprised.

"Yeah," Jaune responds, "Why wouldn't I Remember the name of a cute girl?"

Ruby was stunned. Her cheeks were then dashed with a light red.

"Ruby!" A loud voice called out, "Where did you go?"

"I am over here Yang!" Ruby exclaimed.

Suddenly a blond girl emerged from the crowd of people, revealed herself to Jaune and Ruby. She had lilac eyes and wore a brown jacket and short shorts. She was also revealing quite a bit of skin. She definitely caught Jaune's eye and noticed his eye's on her.

"Like what you see?" the girl teased making her "personality" bigger and more noticeable.

Jaune's eyes then went wide. He took a moment to calm himself and clearly spoke, "I do quite like what I see."

Jaune was so used to be being flirted with thanks to Cinder, he had ways to deal with flirts.

"Hahaha-Wait what?" Yang spoke dumbfounded.

"You look surprised," Jaune smirked.

Yang's mind went blank. 'What the hell just happened?' She spoke internally.

Jaune puts out his gloved right hand and greeted her, "My name is Jaune Arc"

Yang's mind started working again and took Jaune's hand and greeted him back, "The name's Yang."

When Yang shook his hand, it was stiff and firm but warm. She looked up from the handshake, she then saw a pair of soft blue eye's and a smile that actually felt genuine.

Not one of those creepy smile's that she gets on a daily basis. No. But an actual honest to god smile. She could stare at it for ages.

"Ummm, Yang you have been staring at me for ages now," Jaune said concerned.

Yang quickly pulled back her hand and looked away from his face hiding her heated cheeks.

"Are you okay?" Jaune asked obliviously.

"Yeah, I am fine!" Yang quickly responded.

Ruby and Jaune looked confused at Yang for a moment.

"So Yang this is the guy that helped me with that Roman guy last night," Ruby explained trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Oh. So you're the cute boy Ruby's been talking about all day," Yang commented teasingly.

"What!" Ruby screamed embarrassed, "I didn't talk about him all day!"

"So, you are admitting to _have_ talked about him," Yang further teased.

"Uhhhhhh," Ruby stood there broken.

Jaune looked at Yang who was laughing her ass off. Jaune chuckled and decided to fix Ruby.

"Hey Ruby, you excited to go to Beacon?" Jaune asked.

Ruby's mind started functioning at full throttle and responded cheerfully, "You bet! I can't wait to become a huntress."

Yang then grappled Ruby into a headlock and started giving her "affectionate" noogies.

"I still can't believe my little sister going to Beacon with me!" Yang said cheekily smiling, "You'll be the bee's knees!"

'They're sister's?' Jaune thought to himself surprised, 'Guess they're half-sisters.'

Ruby quickly escaped her sister's death hold and pouted, "Yang I told you already! I want to be a normal girl with regular knees!"

Meanwhile, Jaune was smiling at the exchange between the two sisters. It reminded him a lot of how he and his sisters interacted with each other.

"So Jaune," Ruby said trying to get Jaune included in the conversation, "Why did Ozpin want to see you?"

Jaune's mind went back to the night of his conversation with Ozpin

* * *

"I am guessing this is about my semblance?" Jaune asked.

Ozpin nods as he takes his seat once more.

"Your semblance hasn't been seen for over a century. As I am sure you know, that it served as the groundwork for all semblances," Ozpin reminds Jaune.

"What's this about?" Jaune sighs as he sits down across from him.

"I am just confirming that you know the depth and history of your semblance." Ozpin says, "So tell me about it."

"My semblance is alchemy. It is the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct anything I choose," Jaune takes a breath, "But, first I need to know what things are in the thing that I choose to change."

"Things?" Ozpin asked with his eyebrow raised.

"I mean properties and chemical make-up in the object I choose," Jaune explained.

"I see," Ozpin said understanding Jaune's words, "Continue."

Jaune sighed before continuing, "It was one of the first semblances to ever appear on Remnant and those who had it, kept it a secret through long and contrived food recipe's," Jaune lectured, "It is a pain in the ass to decipher. Pretty sure I passed out every time I attempted to translate it."

"Don't get sidetracked, Mr. Arc." Ozpin reminded Jaune.

"Heh. Sorry," Jaune apologized rubbing his nape before continuing his lecture, "But Alchemy died out due to the group of people keeping it too secretive in which caused it to die out."

"That is correct," Ozpin nods, "But you missed a few things."

Jaune raised his eyebrow and asked, "Like what?"

"The semblance didn't just die out." Ozpin paused, "It was slaughtered. Slaughtered by Grimm."

"Wait, what do you mean," Jaune asked confused.

"There was someone or _something_ that made the semblance disappear," Ozpin explained ominously, "And that someone or something _will_ go after you."

Jaune looked at him with wide eyes. Ozpin then gets up from his seat.

"Well, Jaune you should go home and get some sleep. You have to prepare for initiation tomorrow."

Ozpin then leaves the room leaving Jaune sitting there confused.

Jaune sighs as he followed Ozpin and left the room.

'It is going to be a very interesting year,' Jaune thinks to himself.

* * *

"Hello! Remnant to Jaune," Ruby waved her hand in front of Jaune's blue eyes.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"You zoned out a little there," Ruby explained.

"Oh, did I do that again?" Jaune asked.

"You do that often I'm guessing?" Yang asked.

"Yeah," Jaune sighs.

"So Ruby plan on making more friends?" Yang asked Ruby.

"Why would I when I have you two?" Ruby said rather confidently.

Ruby puts her hands on her hips and pressed her chest to the air with pride. She was like this for a solid minute.

Jaune laughed at the display of childlike wonder that Ruby displayed. Ruby's behavior reminded him of his younger sisters whenever they feel confident to do, as they put it, "grown-up tasks".

But Yang sighed as she started to get swept away in a crowd of people.

"Yang! Where are you going?" Ruby screeched.

"Sorry, Rubes but my friends are here!" Yang called out from the group of people, "GOTTA GO!"

"Hey who are you?" One of the people in the group asked Yang.

"Shut it or else I will drive my fist through your skull," Yang threateningly whispered with red eyes.

The person just gulped and went with the flow.

Jaune struggled to hold back his laughter at Yang's attempt to force Ruby to make more friends.

Ruby was confused and began to get dizzy as her life at Beacon seemed to get weirder and weirder. She couldn't take it anymore, she fell backwards only to land on a pile of luggage and cases.

"You dolt! What do you think you are doing?" A white-haired girl in white scolded.

"Sorry!" Ruby exclaimed getting up quickly.

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?" The girl continued to scream.

The girl then took a case and opened it, taking out a vial.

"This is dust that has been purified through the Schnee Quarry's," the girl explained.

Jaune watched the scene unfold between Ruby and the girl in whi- wait a minute. A girl in white? Blue eyes? White hair? An unreasonable amount of dust?

'Is that who I think it is?' Jaune asked himself.

"Do you know who I am?" the girl practically screamed.

"You are Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company," Jaune answered.

The girl looked at Jaune and her eye's widened.

"J-Jaune?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"Hey Weiss," Jaune said rubbing the back of his head.

Weiss quickly pounced on Jaune taking him to the ground and enveloped him in a hug.

"That's another way to say hi," Jaune sarcastically breathed out as Weiss tightly hugged him.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Weiss said with red cheeks as she quickly got off Jaune.

"It's alright Snow Angel," Jaune smiled.

Weiss's cheeks only got redder.

"Um, am I missing something here?" Ruby asked being left out the loop.

Jaune swiftly got up as dusted himself off and began to explain, "Weiss and I are childhood friends. But over the years we barely talked to each other due to certain circumstances."

Weiss cringed at the word "circumstances". She knew exactly why they haven't been seeing each other as she would like to anymore. It's because of a particular elder Schnee.

"Oh, so this is like some sort of reunion?" Ruby asked.

Jaune chuckled, "I suppose it could be a reunion of sorts."

"So are we _friends_?" Ruby asked nervously toward Weiss.

"I suppose we should start over," Weiss mumbled as she stretched out her hand, "I am Weiss Schnee, the heiress to The Schnee Dust Company. It is my pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Ruby Rose!" She exclaimed joyfully as she shook Weis's hand, "I hope we could be good friends!"

"I hope so too," Weiss said. She then turned to Jaune and asked, "So I am assuming that you two met prior to today?"

"Yeah, I actually met Ruby a night ago," Jaune answered.

"Oh, how did you two meet?" Weiss asked.

'Oh no. If I tell Weiss that I risked my life to stop a robbery by one of the most infamous criminals she would probably freak out.' Jaune internally panicked, 'Maybe it's best to tell her vaguely what happened.'

Jaune cleared his throat. "Well-"

"Me, Jaune and this super cool fire girl stopped the robbery by a Roman guy. It was so awesome, Jaune was beating up bad guys left and right and the fire lady almost blew up a bullhead! And there was this super scary old lady who helped too!" Ruby said way too joyfully.

'Welp. It was worth a try,' Jaune said to himself.

"Jaune?"

Jaune looked at Weiss who was looking down hiding her face.

"Is this true?" Weiss asked ominously.

Jaune took a deep breath and said his last words, "Yes. Yes, it is."

Jaune quickly closed his eye's expecting his world to end. Then...

Nothing.

'Am I in the afterlife? Was it a painless death?' Jaune asked himself.

He suddenly felt a weight his right arm. He opened his eye's to see Weiss holding and examining his right arm.

Jane looked confused. "Weiss? What are yo-"

"It's still working?" Weiss whispered in a soft voice.

Jaune knew what she meant and answered in an equally soft voice, "Yeah it is. You did a fantastic job."

Weiss looked up at Jaune and was about to say something until Ruby decided to open her mouth, "Let's talk about weapons!"

Jaune and Weiss looked at Ruby who had her arms stretched toward the blue sky. They then looked at each other and simultaneously decided to talk later.

"That's a bit random don't ya think Ruby?" Jaune asked quickly pulling a smile together.

"Well, you two seem to be getting to know more about each other and I felt left out," Ruby then raised a fist to the sky, "So let's talk about our weapons!"

"It's quite an unusual icebreaker," Weiss remarked with her arms crossed.

"Well, seeing as we will be fighting together throughout our years," Ruby reasoned, "I think it's best to know each other's weapons."

Jaune and Weiss took a moment to think of the situation that Ruby presented.

"I suppose it isn't a bad way for us to get familiar with each other," Weiss reasoned, "I shall go first."

Weiss then pulled her weapon. It was a silver rapier with a revolving chamber above the hilt.

"This is my weapon, Myrtenaster," Weiss presented her weapon, "It is able to use 6 variants of dust in battle and I could switch from any I please."

Jaune wasn't really surprised with her weapon since he was familiar with Weiss. But Ruby, on the other hand, had sparkles in her eye's.

"That...Is...So...**COOL**!" Ruby squealed.

Weiss was taken back by Ruby's reaction and stuttered out, "T-Thank you."

"How about you Jaune?" Ruby asked eagerly.

"Well..." Jaune paused, "The thing is I don't have a weapon."

Ruby made a face of realization.

"Oh yeah! You could make your own weapons. Do you have a device that makes them?" Ruby asked.

"Well, you're close," Jaune said with his signature smile, "My semblance is called Alchemy, it allows me to take some materials and make whatever I want from it. And that includes weapons."

"Wow! That's useful!" Ruby exclaimed with a wide smile, "So are you able to make scythes?"

"Well, I guess I could," Jaune said thoughtfully, "Why do you ask?"

Ruby then pulled out a giant red and black scythe.

"This is why," Ruby replied wielding the deadly weapon.

"Wow. I did not anticipate you of all people to wield...that," Weiss said stunned.

"So can you make this?" Ruby asked Jaune as she transformed it into its rifle form.

"You think I could make a customizable high impact sniper rifle that could transform into a large scythe?" Jaune asked examining her weapon.

"Can you?"

"Eh. Probably, if I could take a look at the blueprints of your weapon," Jaune said shrugging his shoulders, "I probably could."

"Alright, then Jaune!" Ruby said cheerfully, "On our first day at beacon we are making more Crescent Roses!"

"Wait, why would we need to make more Crescent Roses when you already have one?" Jaune questioned Ruby in which she smiled wider.

"There aren't enough Crescent Roses on Remnant!" Ruby shouted.

Weiss looked at the girl in disbelief. 'I can't believe this girl. Isn't one enough?' Weiss questioned to herself.

Jaune on the other hand, smiled as wide as Ruby and joined her in her joy, "Alright let's do it!"

"YEAH!" Ruby paused, "Wait, you would really help me make more Crescent Roses?"

"Yeah, sure why not?" Jaune explained, "And besides I want to learn how to use a scythe. So, will you teach me?"

Ruby was stunned. Can she teach scythe to a cute handsome young man?

'Wait, where did that come from? I guess he is pretty cute. No, maybe handsome is a better way to describe him,' Ruby reasoned internally.

But in the end she reached a decision, "Jaune Arc, I shall take you as my apprentice in the art of the scythe," Ruby said over dramatically.

"Okay, sweet!" Jaune said radiantly.

"It will be a hard, long journey to master the best weapon in all of Remnant, young one," Ruby continued, "But someday we will get there and it SHALL BE GLORIOUS!"

"Um Ruby, that's a bit much don't ya think?" Jaune asked.

"Is it? I just thought that it was necessary to show that it won't be easy," Ruby explained.

"Then why didn't you just said that?" Weiss questioned irritably.

"I-I-I... Don't know," Ruby responded.

"You put on a good show," Jaune commented.

"Thank you! I try," Ruby said bubbly.

"_Anyways_, aren't we suppose to go to the main hall or something like that soon?" Jaune asked.

"Oh yeah," Ruby said.

"Where is the place we are supposed to meet?" Jaune asked scratching his head.

Weiss sighed as she began walking and gestured the others to follow her. Ruby and Jaune quickly followed, but not before Jaune shouts, "Follow the Snow Angel!"

Weiss smiles at Jaune's actions. 'Good to see that some things don't change,' Weiss commented to herself.

* * *

The trio arrives at a grand entrance way leading into a ballroom. There is a big stage on the far end of the room with only a mic occupying the space.

The room is filled with future hunters and huntresses eager to take their first step to helping to make Remnant a better place.

One blond huntress in training just so happens to see her younger sister among the trio.

"Hey, Ruby! I saved you a spot!" Yang waved at Ruby.

"Gotta go! It was nice meeting you two!" Ruby said as she ran to Yang, eager to tell her about her new friend that she made.

"Well, she is interesting," Jaune comments.

"I'll say," Weiss agrees while chuckling.

There was a moment of silence between them among a crowded, noisy room.

"So what did you wanted to tell me?" Jaune asks breaking the silence.

"I wanted to tell you," Weiss pauses as she looks down, "That I'm sorry."

Jaune looks at her stunned and proceeds to ask, "Why? You have no reason to be."

"I am sorry for my father," Weiss explained, "For his behavior toward your family."

"My family could take criticism and shunning," Jaune paused, "Well maybe not my dad. He really dislikes being ignored."

Weiss starts to laugh, "Oh, I know," Weiss reminds Jaune, "How are your parents now?"

"Dad is doing great and so is mom," Jaune informed Weiss, "But they do miss your visits."

"I see," Weiss said, "How about your sisters?"

"They are also doing really well. But, they don't really miss you all that much," Jaune finishes the last part rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm not surprised," Weiss remarks with her arms crossed, "They were never fond me. They have always enjoyed Cinder's presence more than mine."

"Hello Jaune," an elegant voice behind Jaune said, startling the blond boy.

'Speak of the devil,' Weiss grumbled internally.

"Oh, hey Cinder," Jaune greeted.

Jaune then saw two other girls next to Cinder. One had green hair and tan skin wearing a white and green crop-top. The other girl had grey hair and wore metal shin guards, short shorts and a grey jacket.

"Hey Em. Hey Marcy," Jaune greeted the other two.

"Hi Jaune," Emerald waved cheerfully at him.

"Sup Jauney boy," Marcy teased.

"You guys ready to take your first step to become hunters and huntresses?" Jaune asked enthusiastically.

The other three girls all cheered in response.

Jaune then noticed something off, "Hey where's Ne-"

Jaune was cut off by a short, pink and black haired girl tackling Jaune to the ground.

"Not again Neo," Jaune breathed out breathlessly.

He looked down to meet her pink and brown colored eyes. His cheerful and colorful ice cream loving friend hugged him tightly. Jaune got up but Neo still hanged onto him.

"Neo, can you please get off?" Jaune begged.

She shook her head.

"Please?"

She didn't budge.

"If you get off, I will give you a tub of ice cream."

And with that bargain, Neo obliged and was now on her own two feet.

"That took long enough," Weiss remarked, annoyed.

The four girls looked at Weiss who looked back.

"Hey, the ice queen's back," Marcy commented, smiling.

"Yep," Emerald said, acknowledging Marcy's comment.

Neo simply waved happily at the Schnee girl.

"Oh, it's you," Cinder commented, passive-aggressively.

"Hi to you too," Weiss responded.

"So, I see you are _attempting_ to become a huntress too." Cinder said with not a hint of enthusiasm.

"Yes, I am," Weiss responded in the same attitude as Cinder.

"Well, good luck to you," Cinder said as she sticks out her gloved hand.

Weiss shook her hand and stared at her.

Cinder stared back.

The other's watched the passive aggressive competitive behavior between the two and were very uncomfortable.

Luckily, Ozpin stepped up to a microphone and tapped into it to check if it was working.

"I will make this brief."

* * *

After Ozpin's "interesting" speech, the students get ready to hit the hay for the day.

Jaune sat outside to get out of that stuffy ballroom. He doesn't mind loud and busy places, what he _does _mind is however is limited space and a lack of oxygen. Sometimes, people need some fresh air.

As he stares at the shattered moon, he wonders back to Ozpin's words,

_"That someone or something will go after you_."

'It would be great if he had a translator,' Jaune humored himself.

"It looks like I'm not the only who dislikes crowded spaces," a voice says behind him.

He turns around to see a black haired girl with amber eyes and a black bow on her head.

Jaune jumps up, startled. He looks at the girl. 'I didn't even hear her at all,' Jaune internally said.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the girl apologized.

"It's alright," Jaune reassured, "I-I-It's my fault for not paying attention."

The girl simply sat beside him and looked up at the incomplete moon with him. Jaune looked at her and said, "I never got your name."

"My name is Blake Belladonna," the girl answered.

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc," Jaune said cheerfully as he put his hand out.

She looked at his hand and at him. She shook it. And then silence. The two stayed there staring at the night sky that felt almost reachable.

"I saw you defuse the situation between the red-caped girl and the Schnee girl," Blake said, breaking the silence.

"Oh," Jaune said, surprised she talked again, "Yeah, I wanted to help Ruby make friends. And she looked like she was in a pretty awkward situation."

"I see," Blake responded, "I just met the two along with Ruby's sister, they seem...nice."

"They are," Jaune agreed, "I am lucky to have met them."

Then once again it was silent.

'Well, this is awkward,' Jaune thought to himself, 'I should actually start a conversation than just talk small talk."

Jaune cleared his throat, "So, excited to be here at Beacon?"

Blake looked at him and responded, "Yes, I am excited."

Then it was silent again...

'Crap, that was terrible!' Jaune ridiculed himself, 'I need to get better at talking to girls.'

Then Blake pulled out a book and started reading it. Jaune noticed this and asked, "Reading a book?"

"No, I'm just holding a book," Blake responded.

"Oh, sorry," Jaune apologized.

...

...

...

"That was a joke," Blake said, "Don't need to start apologizing. I should be apologizing for my attempts at humor."

"Oh," Jaune said. Then all of a sudden he started laughing startling Blake. "That was a good joke."

Blake was stunned. She never met anyone who actually laughed at her "jokes". Her material was usually met with forced smiles.

This. This was new. What was she supposed to do? Make another joke?

She looked closely at the boy laughing. 'He is pretty cute,' Blake thought causing her to blush.

"Got any more jokes?" Jaune said, hoping for more knee-slapping jokes.

"N-N-No," Blake stuttered.

"Aw," Jaune said disappointingly, "So, what's it about?"

"W-What?" Blake asked in confusion.

"The book," Jaune clarified

"Oh, it's about a man with two souls," Blake explained, "Both are trying to fight for control of the body."

"Wow, sounds really cool," Jaune said interested.

"It's an enjoyable read," Blake commented.

"Would you mind if I borrowed the book," Jaune asked.

"No, of course not," Blake said, "But you better give it back."

"I promise you I will give it to you," Jaune assured, " And as my dad says it, **An Arc never goes back on their word!"**

Blake looked at him funny. Jaune sat there now with red cheeks.

'Way to go Jaune. Now, she thinks you're weird,' Jaune bashed himself.

Suddenly, she started giggling then laughing. Jaune was surprised and looked at her in awe. Soon, he joined her in laughing.

She took a breath calming herself and said, "It's a deal."

"Sweet," Jaune said, relieved that she doesn't think of him as a weirdo.

"Well, I am going back inside," Blake said getting up.

"I'll come with ya," Jaune smiled getting up too.

Blake saw the blond boy's smile and she felt her heart skip a beat. As cliche as it sounds, she may have fallen in love in just one conversation.

She shook her head. 'It's just infatuation,' she reasoned internally, 'I will probably get over it.'

"Well, let's go," she said happily.

'I haven't been this happy for a long time,' Blake thought, 'I think I'll be with him for a while.'

They went to the ballroom and said farewell to each other. Jaune quietly sneaked into his sleeping bag, and calls it a day.

'Hopefully, the rest of the year isn't so chaotic,' Jaune thought as he started to drift asleep, 'Boy, today was an interesting introduction to everything here.'

And tomorrow will be a start to a new adventure.

**To be continued...**


	3. Initiation

* * *

"Jaune, you sure this would work?" A ten-year-old Weiss asks an equally young Jaune.

"Yes, I'm sure of it, Snow Angel," Jaune reassured as he stretched his right arm, "And besides, I'm doing the heavy lifting!"

Weiss laughed and playfully said, "Shut up, you dolt."

"Ok let's get this show started. We have all the ingredients?" Jaune asks Weiss.

"Yup, we have all of it," Weiss confirmed.

"Alright now all that's missing is some DNA," Jaune said as he gets a needle out.

Weiss gets the needle and pierces her soft finger with it. She lets the blood drop to the floor of the Arc basement, where a complicated design of a circle is drawn out. The circle that promises to bring back one thing,

Willow Schnee.

To say Weiss was eager was an understatement, she and Jaune have been decrypting piles and piles of alchemical works to get to this point. After so much preparation, her desire finally becomes a reality.

Jaune was also incredibly eager. He gets to help out his friend and also make a major breakthrough!

"Alrighty then! let's start," Jaune exclaimed.

Jaune clapped his hands together and placed it on the circle. The circle began to glow in a grand blue light.

As the process continues, the edges of the circle began to leak shadows that reach the roof.

"Weiss, something's not right," Jaune explained.

The shadows began reaching toward Jaune and he screams out in pain.

Weiss' eyes quickly shot open. She took deep breaths to calm herself of that dream. That memory. That pain.

After calming herself down, she looks around to see everyone in the ballroom still asleep. Except for a particular blond boy walking into the room all dressed up in jeans, and a black sweatshirt.

Jaune noticed Weiss awake. "Oh hey Weiss," Jaune greeted, "Had a good night rest?"

"Yeah, it was fine," Weiss lied quietly looking away from Jaune.

Jaune saw through her attempt to lie, and sighs. "Bad dreams again?"

"Y-Yes," Weiss stuttered struggling to keep her voice steady.

Jaune slowly approached Weiss as she resumed looking at the ground. Jaune suddenly hugged her taking her into a tight warm embrace.

"J-Jaune," Weiss blushed.

"It's alright, It's over," Jaune whispered.

Weiss felt his warmth around her instantly clearing her mind. She leaned into him. 'I missed this,' she happily thought to herself.

"You two look comfortable."

The two turned to see a tan green haired girl standing there with her arms crossed. She already gotten dressed up. 'She always gets the special treatment,' Emerald complains internally.

"Oh hey Em!" Jaune greeted cheerfully while Weiss quickly got out of the grasp of Jaune's arms, "You ready to kick some Grimm butt?!"

Emerald couldn't help but smile at Jaune's behavior and Weiss' reaction to her being humiliated and exposed.

"Well, you should get ready Weiss," Jaune stated.

"I-I-I know that! You...dolt," Weiss exclaimed but whispered the last part of that statement.

"Guess things don't change. But please excuse me as I go fill up my stomach!" Jaune goofily smiled as he walked away.

"Oh yeah! Em!" Jaune called out.

"Yeah, Jaune?" Emerald responded.

Jaune took out a pair of red gloves. "Here's an extra pair of Cinder's gloves. Just in case it rains or something," Jaune said as he gave the pair to Emerald, "I also gave one to Neo, and Marcy."

"Ok, I will give it to her if a situation like that happens," Emerald assured.

"Sweet!" Jaune said as he left to get some food, "See ya!"

Then Weiss with red heated cheeks and Emerald with a mischievous smile looked at each other.

"So..." Emerald said, "How was his buff chest being pushed up against your flat chest?"

"S-S-Shut up!" Weiss shouted.

Emerald began chuckling. "Sorry, I couldn't resist," Emerald apologized, "It's good to see you again, however."

Weiss calmed down. "Likewise," Weiss said as she got up and started walking to get ready for Initiation.

"Sorry about Cinder by the way," Emerald said making Weiss stop, "You know she can get...well...competitive."

Weiss turned around. "It's fine. Can't blame her after what happened between us two," Weiss paused as she turned back around and continued walking, "Besides, I would win anyway."

Emerald sighs. 'The tension between the two keeps getting thicker and thicker," Emerald thinks to herself, 'Jaune, when will you stop being an oblivious idiot and notice a girl's affection? Especially mine..."

* * *

After everyone else woke up and got breakfast, they then left to the locker room to prepare for Initiation.

Jaune walked around the locker room scanning the upcoming students. He walked aimlessly hoping that this waiting period will be over.

"Hello again Jaune," a voice said which Jaune recognized instantly.

"Hey Cindy," Jaune said happily as he turned to face her.

"You ready for Initiation?" Cinder asks.

"Yeah, of course, I am," Jaune answered, "But the only problem I have is whose team I'm going to be on."

Cinder gained a scheming smile. "You know Jaune," Cinder said, "It wouldn't hurt if we were both on a team together."

"You would really want me on your team?" Jaune asked surprised.

"Of course, why wouldn't we be on a team together," Cinder put her hands on her hips, "The two best fighters in all of Remnant being put on one team. We will be the best team on Beacon. And soon we will be the best hunters of all time."

Jaune thought and said, "That's if we're on the same te-"

Cinder cut him off by putting a finger to his lips. "Don't speak. I am not done yet. When we are in the same team, you will be my knight and I will be your queen. I will decide what you do. You will serve me and only me. Does that sound like a deal? _Jaune~_," Cinder said seductively.

'Well, there she goes again. Being...Cinder,' Jaune thought.

"That's if we're on the same team," Jaune said finishing his previous statement with a small smile.

Internally, Cinder was disappointed. 'Why did Jaune have to get so used to me? Now it's boring. He got mature way too fast,' Cinder thought annoyed, 'But nonetheless, it is a welcomed change.'

"Yes, Jaune," Cinder confirmed with a sigh, "That's if we are on the same team."

"But how do you think teams will be sorted?" Jaune asks.

"I don't know Jaune," Cinder responded, "The system for making teams is different every ye-."

Suddenly, Cinder stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"Um, Cinder are you ok?" Jaune asked concerned.

"Jaune, look behind you," Cinder instructed quietly.

Jaune did so and saw a girl with gladiator-like armor's back. She was currently gathering her gear from her locker. As she did so her red-hair moves to the momentum of her actions.

"I can't believe she is going to Beacon," Cinder said dumbfounded.

"So wait who is sh-"

"Hello!" The red-haired girl greeted from behind Jaune.

Cinder's eyes then looked at the girl. Cinder clears her throat and stretches out her gloved hand.

"Hello! My name is Cinder Fall," Cinder greeted formally, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nikos."

"Oh don't need to be so formal!" The girl waved off, "We are all students starting from now! We should treat each other with an equal amount of respect."

"Hi, my name's Jaune Arc. The girls somewhat like it," Jaune said waving, "So have you two met before?"

Cinder looked at Jaune in disbelief. "Jaune do you know who she is?" Cinder asked.

"Nope."

"This is Pyrrha Nikos. She graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"That's pretty cool."

"She won multiple Mistral Tournaments."

"I didn't know that was a thing until today. But that still sounds pretty difficult."

Cinder sighs and then said, "She is on the box for Pumpkin Pete's cereal."

"Oh. I actually haven't eaten that brand since my training. It isn't that good for you. I remember a lot of stomach aches from that cereal," Jaune stated.

"It really isn't," Pyrrha agreed, "I wished that many more people were like you and see through that marketing."

"Well, I didn't come up with the idea myself," Jaune stated, "My teacher said to stay away from that crap. Also, cereal's overrated."

As the two took turns to exchange words, Cinder looked at Pyrrha and recognized a look of happiness. The only kind of happiness that you get when you're with Jaune. Cinder was way too familiar with this situation. She has seen her sisters and Weiss Schnee looked at Jaune with the same faces. And she is no stranger to exhibiting this look herself either. But she is getting sick of other girls looking at Jaune like that.

"Also, Pyrrha are you interested in joining me and Cinder's team?" Jaune asked with a grand smile.

Pyrrha's green eyes flickered and soon responded, "Of course, I think we could be a great team! I heard that teams are only up to four people."

"Really what a bummer! I was hoping to get some more of my friends on our team!" Jaune said disappointed.

"I am sure we could still be acquainted with them when the year begins!" Pyrrha said cheerfully.

"Oh yeah! You're right!" Jaune realized.

'You have got to be kidding me,' Cinder said to herself.

"Isn't this great Cinder? Another member has been added to our team!" Jaune.

"Yes, it is just _grand," _Cinder responded without a hint of happiness.

Pyrrha looked at Cinder. 'Did I say something,' Pyrrha asked herself noticing Cinder's passive-aggressive tone.

"So what are your weapons?" Jaune asked.

"That's kind of an odd question," Pyrrha commented.

"Well, like a friend said," Jaune explained, "We're going to be fighting together throughout our years. It would be best if we were to know each other's fighting style and our weapon of choice."

Cinder and Pyrrha looked at Jaune surprised. Cinder knew that Jaune was smart but he managed to make a weird question into a logical inquiry. Pyrrha was simply stumped at his logic.

"Ah, crap. I totally just over complicated her words. I think it may have made me look like more of a bumbling idiot."

"Nope! You said it way better!"

Jaune turned to the source of the voice and sees a young bright girl in red.

"Hey little Rose," Jaune greeted.

"L-Little Rose?" Ruby blushed.

"Just a Lil' cute nickname I thought for you," Jaune smiled, "Don't like it?"

"N-N-No. I love it!" Ruby blushed harder.

Yang suddenly appeared hugging her sister. "Oh my goodness! My sister and her boyfriend are bonding!"

"**Boyfriend?**" Cinder said darkly.

"Yang! Stop! He isn't my boyfriend," Ruby exclaimed.

Cinder starts to calm down after hearing that statement.

"So what's this I hear about weapons?" Ruby asked excitingly.

"Ok, there little sister," Yang said trying to contain Ruby, "Save that energy for Initiation."

"We should probably head over to where we are supposed to meet," Pyrrha recommended.

"Oh yeah, where are we meeting?" Jaune asks.

**"Attention all incoming first-year students, meet at Beacon cliff for Initiation," **The intercom announced.

"Well, there's our answer Jaune," Cinder said as she grabbed his wrists and pulled him.

This shocked Jaune. He knew Cinder was flirtatious but not physically direct. He stared up to see the girl holding him. The blond boy sees a beautiful young girl with raven hair and amber like eyes. 'Was she always this beautiful,' Jaune asks himself.

While Jaune was being pulled, the other girls watched the duo leave.

'Damn, that girls really possessive,' The fierce brawler commented.

'Why is she holding Jaune like that? Are they a couple? If not, could we be a couple? Why am I thinking of us being a couple?' The rose huntress thought to herself.

'What's her problem? Was it me? Or maybe it's Jaune?' The gladiator tried to reason.

* * *

As the many upcoming students arrived at the cliff, Ozpin and Glynda scanned the upcoming students and his eyes landed on a particular blond headed boy.

'Hm, let's see how he handles Initiation,' Ozpin thought to himself.

Jaune looked at all the students eager to take their first step to become a hunter.

He lined up with the rest of the students as Ozpin began monologuing again, "For years you trained to become warriors and today your skills will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin said holding a mug.

'Wow. He really likes coffee,' Jaune humored himself

"There has been confusion for team assignments," Glynda informed, "Well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...Today."

Jaune heard Ruby whimpering at that statement.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin continued, "So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone, whom you could work with well."

Ruby whimpered some more.

"Also, I should mention that the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years," Ozpin added.

Ruby broke at that last nail on the coffin.

'That's kind of counter-intuitive,' Jaune thought to himself, 'What if you make eye contact with someone you don't work well with? I guess Ozpin's really is letting fate do his work for him.'

"After you have met your partner, make your way to the northern end of the forest," Ozpin paused for dramatic effect, "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die."

"That's real assuring," Jaune muttered sarcastically.

Ozpin then continued, "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of the Initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple and the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one. And return to the top of the cliff. You will be given a grade when you have done so."

"Wow, a test on the first day," Jaune said in a monotone voice, "And I didn't even study for it."

"Are there any questions before we begin?" Ozpin asked.

Cinder raised her hand with a smirk.

"Yes, Miss Fall?"

"So, will the old hag be teaching at Beacon?"

Glynda looked at her gritting her teeth. "**You're lucky that you're a student otherwise I would have utterly destroyed you.**"

"And you're lucky that you're an old lady because I don't like to hurt the elderly, especially if..."

"**Don't say it**," Glynda warned.

Ozpin saw Glynda's control of herself about to break and started launching the students. Cinder was first.

But she still said her statement as she flew in the sky, "_Especially, if they're an old HAAAAAAAG!_"

A dangerous purple aura surrounded Glynda. "**Wait until she's in my class**," she muttered dangerously.

Ozpin sighed and watched the rest of the students be launched.

Jaune smiled and looked at the worried Ruby. She looked back. He gave her a thumbs up and said, "You'll do great!"

Almost instantly, she straightened herself up and smiled determinedly back. "Thanks, Jaune!"

Jaune smiled and put on his headphones. He played some of his as he liked to call it, "Jammity Jam Jams".

And one by one the students were launched. Soon enough Ruby was hurled and then it was Jaune's turn to be thrown

Jaune was quickly guided up in the air heading straight toward vast Emerald Forest. The sun was beaming down creating a fantastic view. Despite the forest being infested with Grimm, it still looked breathtaking.

He closed his eyes as he felt the breeze run swiftly along his body. He felt himself slowly leaning down toward the ground.

The ground got closer and closer. His mind was thinking of possibilities to negate the fall. 'Should I just strengthen my aura and crash? Or should I be a show-off?' Jaune thought, 'We are being graded. So I guess it is best to show what I could do.'

He clapped his hands as he got close to the tall thick trees and placed them on the tree he was approaching. He made it into a slide which smoothly led to the ground. He slid down it head first with a wide smile.

Once he made contact with the ground, he stood up and dusted himself off. "Wow, I didn't think I would do the landing that clean," Jaune said smiling, "I am actually tempted to go down it again."

His thoughts were interrupted by an Ursa Major attempting to slice him in two. He quickly backed up. He then sighed as he clapped his hands and planted them on the dirt.

A small stone platform that was as big as the Ursa quickly raised up causing the dark animal to be launched up high into the air. He quickly made the platform into a giant spike which the Ursa landed on.

The spike pierced the Ursa and it instantly disintegrated into dust.

"That was quite impressive."

Jaune turned toward the voice and saw a familiar pair of green eyes and red hair.

"Oh hey!" Jaune greeted as he took off his headphones.

"I guess we're partners now!" Jaune commented cheerfully.

"Yes, I suppose we are!" Pyrrha agreed equally as cheerful.

"So," Jaune said, "We should probably start going to the temples."

"Yes, we should."

"Well, let's go!" Jaune exclaimed as he started walking onward.

Jaune then stopped in his tracks.

"You don't know where we're going do you?" Pyrrha said chuckling.

"Nope!"

* * *

"Goddammit!"

After the old man launched her in the air, Cinder landed in a pool of water. Now she was wet and pissed.

'How can I do anything now?' Cinder asked herself, 'Now I'm...'

_..._

_..._

_..._

_'useless._'

She shivered at the thought of the word. She hates being a spectator especially if she could do so much more.

She took off her gloves and attempted to dry them out. She was interrupted by Beowolf's howl near her. She then heard rapid stomps approaching her and saw the Beowolf running toward her.

"**I am getting really ticked off,**" Cinder growled as she focused her aura to her fists.

She punched the fierce creature's head causing its jaw to be unhinged. Cinder charged at it and punched a series of devastating hits. The Beowolf didn't stand a chance against the red dressed girl. The creature turned to dust which was blown away by the wind.

Cinder started to take deep breaths in order to calm herself. 'Just find Jaune and get this over with,' Cinder thought.

Cinder then was tackled to the ground. Cinder didn't bother to look down as she said, "You need to stop doing that, Neo."

The colorful girl simply stuck her tongue out and stood back up.

"Well then, it appears we are indeed partners," Cinder stated as she stood back up.

Neo nodded as she got an extra pair of gloves for Cinder.

"Let me guess," Cinder said with a smile, "Jaune gave you an extra pair of gloves, just in case a certain situation involving water were to occur?"

Neo nodded cheerfully as she passed the dust infused gloves to Cinder.

Cinder caught the gloves and quickly put them on. 'Jaune truly is the perfect knight. Loyal and smart,' Cinder humored herself, 'Also, the perfect husband.'

"You know where north is right?" Cinder asked her new partner.

Neo put on a contemplative face. She then licked her finger and put it in the air to feel which way the wind was blowing.

'How's that going to help her?' Cinder thought.

Neo then nodded confidently and started skipping further into the woods. Cinder sighed as she followed.

* * *

Emerald sighed as her sister and new partner, Marcy, walked next to her in a grand sea of trees.

"I think we should be hitting the temple in five minutes," Marcy said with a grin.

"Really?" Emerald deadpanned.

"But I have a feeling this time!" Marcy said confidently.

"Marcy."

"I just keep getting these ultra accurate instincts sometimes," Marcy continued.

"Marcy."

"We will be there in no ti-"

"MARCY!" Emerald screamed

"What? Is it that time of month?" Marcy remarked.

"You said the exact same thing about 5 times now. And I think I am about to go insane," Emerald said fed up.

"Oh."

...

...

...

"I think we should be hitting the temple in five min-"

"MARCY!" Emerald screamed.

"Sorry, geez," the grey-haired girl apologized as she scoffed.

Then both of them stop in front of a cave.

"Welp, let's go!" Marcy said as she entered the cave.

Emerald sighed. 'One of these days, that reckless behavior will cost someone a leg,' Emerald thought as she followed Marcy.

* * *

"Where are we going, Weiss?" A red hooded girl asked a white dressed heiress.

"Where do you think we're going, you dolt," Weiss responded as she continued walking.

Weiss ended up with Ruby as her partner and she was neutral on the whole situation. She didn't dislike Ruby too much but nor was she fond of her.

Ruby, on the other hand, was absolutely pumped up! She had a pretty cool partner with a pretty awesome weapon! She did wish she was with Yang or Jaune, but, she could get used to this!

"You don't know where we are going do you?" Ruby asked with a grin.

"We are going north! Did you forget?" Weiss asked back.

"Can't you just admit that we have no idea where we are?" Ruby asked, "And besides, I don't think they're timing us."

Weiss opened her mouth to say something. But nothing came out.

"Well, let's go this way!" Ruby said as she started walking in a random direction.

"Hey! We just came from there!" Weiss reminded.

"This way!" Ruby said cheerfully as she changed directions.

'I wonder if Jaune's doing any better,' Weiss wondered.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

Jaune sneezed violently causing Pyrrha to jump.

"Bless you!" Pyrrha exclaimed, "Do you have a cold?"

"No, it's weird," Jaune said, "I feel like someone's worrying about me."

"Huh."

The two continued walking in silence.

"How does your semblance work?" Pyrrha asked breaking the silence.

Jaune sighed. "It is really hard to explain."

"Well, then try to explain it," The gladiator encouraged.

"Well, my semblance is called Alchemy. It pretty much allows me to make whatever I want as long as I understand the ingredients to make the item I want," Jaune said.

"What do you mean by ingredients?" Pyrrha askes curiously.

"It pretty much means like chemical make-up and stuff," Jaune responded.

"I see."

"But I need the ingredients first," Jaune continued, "Without that, I can't do anything."

"So it is kind of like exchanging items for different purposes," Pyrrha said simplifying Jaune's words.

"Yup, right on it!" Jaune smiled.

"Wow, that is quite the semblance!" Pyrrha commented.

"It sure is!" Jaune agreed.

The two continued to walk to only hear screaming.

"What the?" Jaune said as he turned around to see Emerald and Marcy running for their dear lives away from a Death Stalker.

"I think we should start running," Pyrrha suggested

"Already on it!"

And soon four hunters in training were running for their lives.

"What the hell happened to you two!?" Jaune screamed as he ran for his life.

* * *

As the duo delved into the cave further, Emerald holding a torch to illuminate the dark cave and Marcy leading the way.

"You sure this is the right way?" Emerald asked.

"C'mon! Who made the torch?" Marcy said rhetorically with a sly grin.

"I did."

"Wait...oh...you did," Marcy acknowledged, "But this is probably a shortcut!"

Then without warning, the torch went out.

"Great," Emerald said sarcastically.

"I guess, you make pretty high-quality torches, huh?" Marcy smirked.

"Hey! At least I am not the one who decided it was a good idea to go in here!" Emerald pointed out.

"But you followed me!" Marcy responded.

"I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!"

"WELL, I APPRECIATE THAT!"

"GOOD!"

"GREAT!"

"SWELL!"

"FANTASTIC!"

"STUPENDOUS!"

_ ***CRACK*** _

"Um, Em was that you?" Marcy asked nervously.

"It wasn't you?" Emerald asked equally as nervous.

A glowing orange stinger then caught their eye's in the dark. And soon red patterns across a giant scorpion-like creature begin to illuminate.

It was a Death Stalker.

"Shit," Marcy cursed.

"Calm down," Emerald instructed as calmly as she could, "On three, we run. One...Tw-"

Marcy started running and yelled, "HAUL ASS!"

"Oh, you fu-"

Emerald was interrupted by the Death Stalker growling. Hastily, Emerald followed her sister.

* * *

**Flashback end**

* * *

"That makes _way_ too much sense!" Jaune screamed.

"Now, isn't the time for sarcasm Jaune!" Pyrrha reminded.

"What are we going to do?" Emerald asked running.

"Well, we run genius!" Marcy sneered.

"Once again, not the time for sarcasm!" Pyrrha reminded.

"You three keep on running, I'll slow it down!" Jaune said as he halted himself and clapped his hands together.

"Jaune!" The three girls shouted in unison.

A flash of familiar blue lightning emits from Jaune as his hands then go to the ground. A stone wall quickly rises in front of the Grimm creature. But it was quickly demolished by the Death Stalker.

"Oh, crap."

Jaune dodged the stinger but he got caught on the tail and was launched further into the forest.

* * *

"Let's take the pony!" A blond brawler said cheerfully.

"Whatever," Blake said as her partner picked up the relic.

The two have successfully infiltrated the temple. And with minimal distractions or obstacles.

"This test was super easy!" Yang shouted as she smiled from ear to ear.

"Don't say that."

"Don't say what?"

"Don't say that it was super easy," Blake explained calmly, "You might jinx us."

"Oh don't be like that!" Yang exclaimed, "I was just saying that we didn't really have to deal with anythi-"

She was interrupted by an Ursa Major quickly making sure its presence was known. And suddenly, it collapsed.

"Ah. It's broken!" An orange-haired girl said as she got off the back of the creature.

"Nora, don't do that again," A black-haired boy appeared behind her.

"It's fine, Ren!" The girl named Nora said.

Yang and Blake were surprised, to say the least.

"Ok. That was weird," Blake said in a slightly surprised tone.

"Hey, at least it can't get any weirder," Yang commented.

Suddenly, a blond boy crash landed before the group.

"_Ow_,"

"Jaune?" Blake asked.

"Oh hey, Blake. Hey Yang." The blue-eyed boy whispered in pain.

Yang was dumbfounded. "Wha-"

As Jaune stood back up weakly, a screaming girl in red was heard from directly above. He looks up and adjusts himself directly under her.

She fell right into Jaune's arms.

"Hey, Little Rose!"

Ruby noticed and blushed at how close the two were. "H-Hi, Jaune."

"Do you want me to put you down now? You seem uncomfortable," Jaune observed.

"Yes! I mean No! I mean Ye-"

Jaune then decided to put Ruby back on her two feet as she gained a look of disappointment.

"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Blake asked in her usual manner.

"Uh‐"

Then three girls ran out of the woods with a Death Stalker behind them. Each one of them attempting to take it down.

"Did those girls just run all the way over here with a Death Stalker chasing them?"

"**OK CAN EVERYONE CALM DOWN FOR THREE SECONDS!" **Yang said fed up.

...

...

...

"Um, Jaune?" Ruby said pointing up.

Jaune looked at what Ruby was gesturing to and saw Weiss barely hanging on to a Nevermore...wait a Nevermore!

"HOW CAN YOU LEAVE ME HERE!" Weiss shouted.

"I TOLD YOU TO JUMP!" Ruby shouted back.

"She's going to fall," Blake commented.

"She will be fine!" Ruby said.

"She's falling," Ren stated.

Jaune sighs as he positioned himself under Weiss and clapped his hands. A stone platform formed beneath him and raised him up.

Weiss closed her eyes as she got closer to the ground. But ended up in Jaune's arms thanks to him shortening the falling distance of the heiress. Weiss opened her eyes to see a blond boy holding her.

"My hero," she whispered as she leaned into his embrace.

"What was that?" Jaune asked confused.

Weiss quickly realized what she had said out loud. "N-Nothing!"

"You sure? I thought I heard someth-"

"IT'S NOTHING!" Weiss quickly screamed.

"Um, okay then."

Jaune lowered the platform down to the ground with Weiss in his arms.

He puts Weiss down on the ground who dusted herself off.

Pyrrha was thrown by the Death Stalker and landed in front of the gang of students. While Emerald and Marcy quickly retreated and joined the group.

"Great, now everyone's here!" Yang said happily, "Now, we could die together!"

"Not on my watch!" Ruby shouted as she charged the Grimm creature.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted.

"AHHHHH!" Ruby cried as she attempted to attack the Death Stalker.

Her scythe was firing rounds off to make her blindingly fast.

But all her effort was all for nothing, the creature simply swiped and knocked her back.

Ruby saw her mistake and started retreating while shooting at the scorpion. But the Nevermore from above shot it's feathers pinning Ruby's cape. She was stuck.

Yang started running forward but she wasn't fast enough to catch up to the Rose in time.

The Death Stalker got closer and closer to Ruby. Ruby closed her eyes and anticipated her death.

_ ***CLANK*** _

"You're not going to die on my watch."

She opened her eyes once more to see Jaune in front of her. His right arm raised blocking the scorpion's stinger.

Jaune was smiling as he held back the oversized scorpion, "We just took our first step to becoming hunters! And you just accept it to end so early?!"

"Jaune your arm..." Ruby said with her eyes wide.

Jaune then brought together his left hand to his right hand. A steel blade forms from his right forearm. He pushed the stinger back and the Death Stalker went in for another strike.

Jaune was swift in his reaction, he quickly sliced the stinger clean off making the scorpion hiss in pain.

"Well said, Jaune."

Jaune instantly recognized the voice and clapped his hands quickly together. A stone wall forms around the scorpion but an opening was made to the source of the voice. Then...

_ ***SNAP*** _

The scorpion was utterly engulfed in flames, which shot up into the sky. The scorpion, still in flames, broke through the walls charging at Jaune.

Jaune stood there waiting for the Death Stalker. When it attempted to grab the blond boy with it's claws. Jaune made a sword through his alchemy and further shortened the tail.

Suddenly, a pointy colorful umbrella pierced the Death Stalker's head.

The scorpion didn't last long for it quickly turned to ash.

Jaune then took a seat on the grass exhausted.

"Thanks for the assist you two," Jaune thanked the duo that saved his ass.

"It wasn't a problem, Jaune," a familiar amber eyed girl said, "Isn't that right, Neo?"

The dual color eyed girl nodded as she retrieved her umbrella.

Everyone except Weiss, Emerald, and Marcy, looked at the group with wide eyes. These three just took down a Death Stalker while they couldn't even get a scratch on it.

Jaune stood back up and walked over to Ruby. He gave her a hand to help her stand back up. "You alright? You almost died."

"Don't worry about me! What about your arm?" Ruby shouted in concern.

Jaune raised his right arm. The sleeve on it was torn up quite a bit. "Oh. My sweatshirt's ruined now." Jaune stated disappointed.

"NO! I mean your actual arm!" Ruby exclaimed pointing at Jaune's arm.

Jaune gained a smile as he reached for his ruined sleeve. He tore the whole piece of loose clothes off to reveal a metal arm. "Don't worry about it. All that matters is that you're safe now."

"Wha-"

"Ruby!"

Soon, Ruby was hugged by a familiar blond girl with lilac-eyes.

"Yang! I'm okay now! Thanks to Jaune!" Ruby said turning blue from the hug.

Yang quickly saw the state her sister was in and decided to hug Ruby to death later. She turned to Jaune. "Thank you for saving my sister," Yang thanked, "I know she can act...well..."

"Like a child?" Weiss suggested.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted.

"Yeah, that's the word." Yang smiled.

Neo then tapped the shoulder of Cinder pointing toward the Nevermore approaching them.

"Well, we need to stop talking and get our pieces," Cinder said as she approached the display of chess pieces.

Every partner gathered a relic and began running toward the cliffs, their rendezvous.

"That bird is getting closer!" Marcy stated as she ran with the others.

"Keep running! We're almost there!" Ruby shouted.

The group ran over a grand stone bridge to a grand display of ancient stone ruins. The Nevermore gets closer to them at an alarming rate.

"Oh, sweet Oum! That thing does not want to give up!" Yang said.

"We will just have to fight it!" Ruby said as she stopped herself.

Everyone else stopped along with Ruby. There were plenty of looks that wanted to protest but they knew they had to fight.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ren shared.

"C'mon Ren it'll be fun!" Nora opposed.

"That's one way to put it," Emerald sighed as she got her guns out.

"Well, I hope we get extra credit for this," Weiss said as she got Myrtenaster ready.

"Don't be like that ice queen," Cinder said as she snapped. A glass bow formed in her hands. "And besides, it's my opportunity to outdo you once more."

"Over my dead body."

Soon, they all started firing at the Nevermore. Marcy shooting bullets out of her boots. Pyrrha shooting the bird with her rifle. Nora had her grenade launcher trying to cook some chicken.

"Don't stop!" Jaune shouted as he made multiple cannons aimed at the Nevermore firing stones at it.

"It's not working!" Blake shouted.

"We need to find another way to get rid of it," Cinder said firing another glass arrow at the Grimm bird.

Jaune then noticed at how mindlessly the bird followed them. Suddenly he had an idea. An extremely dumb idea that could save all of them.

"Everyone get back! I have a plan!" Jaune shouted.

"_Great_! More running," Marcy said as she followed.

"Will, you ever shut your mouth?" Emerald asked annoyed and exhausted.

"Just shut up and run!" Weiss commanded.

* * *

They ran long enough for Jaune to explain his plan. Soon they all split into three groups and into different directions.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora ran in a straight direction.

Cinder, Neo, Emerald, and Marcy ran to the right.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake ran to left.

The Nevermore followed group going straight.

'I hope this works!' Jaune prayed.

"NOW!" Jaune commanded, "Clip the wings!"

The groups that headed to the sides then started shooting the bird causing it to get confused about which group to pursue.

_ ***SNAP*** _

The bird then cried in anguish as flames engulfed it. Emerald and Marcy lay down a wave of bullets piercing the wings. The Nevermore attempted to shoot it's feathers at Cinder. But luckily, Neo shielded Cinder with her umbrella.

"Thanks, Neo," Cinder said.

On the other side of the bird, Weiss shot her ice dust at the Nevermore's left wing. Ruby, Blake, and Yang began shooting the frozen wing causing it to shatter.

The Nevermore began to fall. The future hunters didn't let up. They still laid constant fire.

'Now that it's down...It's time for the nail'

Jaune quickly made a spear and hurled it at the skull of the Nevermore. The Nevermore screeched.

"Now, Nora!"

"YEEEEEHAAAAAA!" Nora cried in delight as she nailed the spear further into it's head.

The Nevermore then proceeded to charge Jaune's group.

"Give me some air!" Cinder cried as she created dual glass swords and charged the Nevermore.

Jaune nodded as he made a set of stairs that reached above the bird. Cinder quickly ascended the stairs and jumped off at the top. She dived down and pierced the neck of the Nevermore. The Nevermore started to shake it's neck.

'It's time to finish this,' Weiss promised herself.

Weiss summoned a glyph toward the Nevermore.

"Ruby! Want a boost?" Weiss asked. Ruby understood as she got into position on the glyph. "Out of the way Cinder!"

Cinder quickly did so as Ruby was launched at the Nevermore and proceeded to decapitate it.

The Nevermore finally stopped struggling as it turned to dust.

Everyone sighed at the battle finally being over.

"Woah," Jaune said.

"Thank god that's over," Marcy sighed.

"Yeah, you said it," Emerald agreed.

"Jaune."

Jaune turned to see Pyrrha who was smiling. "That was quite the strategy," Pyrrha complimented.

Jaune blushed at her compliment. "N-No, it was nothing! You guys did most of the work anyway!" Jaune quickly said rubbing his nape.

"Ahem."

The duo turned to see Cinder with her arms crossed. "We need to go to the cliffs now. We could talk _later_," Cinder said passive-aggressively.

"For once, I agree with her," Weiss commented with an equal amount of attitude as Cinder.

"I suppose that's an ideal solution," Pyrrha agreed reluctantly.

"Yeah, I guess we should go," Jaune agreed.

'This poor idiot,' Ren thought to himself, 'How can one boy be so dense?'

Everyone then began to walk to the rendezvous. Jaune took his white rook piece out.

'Why use chess pieces?" Jaune wondered to himself, 'Knowing Ozpin it's probably literal in some way.'

Jaune stuffed the piece back into his pocket. 'Today was the first step. And tomorrow will be the first day."

**To be continued...**


	4. Intermission: A Peaceful First Night

* * *

The first night at Beacon was quiet for the most part. Everyone was sleeping in their respective rooms, except for one particular white-haired girl.

Team assignments were a bit of a surprise, mainly to Weiss. Why was she just a team member? Why wasn't she the team leader? And why was she a team leader?

Weiss wasn't talking about her own team. She was talking about CNEM and their team leader, Cinder Fall. What made her more qualified? She would be mad at Ruby being team leader, but this issue was eating her up.

The heiress then got out of her bed in the middle of the night in her nightgown. She walked out of her dorm and across the hallway to reach team JNPR's.

She quietly knocked on the door. Half of her was hoping someone would open it. The other was hoping that no one answered and she didn't want to grieve to him. She didn't want to seem like she was weak.

Unfortunately for the other half, the first half's wishes were granted. And Oum behold, Jaune opened the door rubbing his eyes.

"Hello?" Jaune wearily greeted, "Is it you, dad?"

"Hi Ja-"

"I told you that your '**GLORIOUS'** son is sleeping fine."

"Jaune I-"

"No, I don't want to spar with you righ‐"

Weiss grew impatient and slapped the living crap out of Jaune. It wasn't just one slap, it was a full-on assault.

"Heyheyheyhey!" Jaune put up his arms to protect himself, "I was just joking."

Weiss stopped. "Well, your jokes suck," Weiss stated with her arms crossed.

"Oh, C'mon," Jaune defended, "It wasn't that bad."

"You're right it wasn't bad," Jaune's eyes lit up.

"It was terrible."

Jaune's spirit visibly left Jaune's body. Weiss couldn't help but laugh.

Weiss lightly slapped his face to get him back together. It worked.

"So, what did you wanted to talk to me about?" Jaune asked.

"Well," Weiss paused, "Can we talk, alone?"

"Um, sure."

And soon both of them started walking down the long hallway to the calm courtyard of Beacon.

"How do you feel about the team assignments?" Weiss asked bluntly.

"Um, well," Jaune contemplated, "It was certainly a surprise when I was assigned, team leader."

"Are you kidding me?"

"What?"

"You need to stop doubting yourself. It is really agitating when you try to do that whole, 'I am not that good' act," Weiss said annoyed, "Especially when you deserve it."

"Uh, What?"

"In other words, it pisses me off when you feel bad about yourself," Weiss said bluntly.

"Oh," Jaune said rubbing his nape, "So, what's troubling you on this peaceful night?"

"It's the team assignments," Weiss stated.

"What's wrong with the team assignments?" Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Are you mad that Ruby's team leader?"

"Well, yes," Weiss explained, "But honestly, when I think about it, Ruby does have the potential to become a great leader."

"Wow."

"What?"

"I did not expect you to be so accepting of Ruby," Jaune said dumbfounded.

"Well, I did see her performance on the battlefield," Weiss said, "She does have fast instincts, but she needs to work on strategy. But if I were my younger self, I would probably be throwing a fit at the decision to making her team leader."

Jaune then started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I can't believe how fast you mature! We haven't seen each other in four years and you've grown up so much!" Jaune said in great joy.

Weiss looked at him in shock then started to laugh with him.

As the two's laughter died down. Jaune asked, "So, I am guessing this is about Cinder then."

"Yes," Weiss confirmed, "I am extremely annoyed that she got the position as team leader."

"Why?" Jaune asked, "She worked hard and in my personal opinion she deserved it."

"I know that!" Weiss exclaimed, "It just frustrates me!"

Jaune looked at her confused.

"She acts like she is that good. And the worst part is that she is that good! I just really hate seeing her succeed! Especially, if she is doing better than me!" Weiss ranted.

"What happened?"

That simple question stopped Weiss in her rant. She knew exactly what he meant.

"I still have trouble finding where we went wrong," Weiss explained, "We were best friends and now we hate each other. I know it happened after the attempt at transmutation. But I don't really know why we're like this."

"I guess you'll just have to talk to her," Jaune suggested.

Jaune looked at Weiss who had a very unsettled face at the statement. He could tell that she didn't want to.

"Just talk to her," Jaune suggested once more, "It's better to let it out than to hold it in."

Weiss nodded.

Then silence. The two sat there. Their blue eyes stared at each other. It was honestly comforting to Weiss to have a moment alone with Jaune after so long even if it

"Well, I guess we should head back now," Jaune said as he turned back to the dorms.

"Yeah," Weiss agreed.

The two then began walking toward the dorms silently. Every footstep and breath exchanged was heard.

"Hey, Jaune?"

"Yeah Weiss?" Jaune asked as he turned around to face Weiss.

Suddenly, Jaune felt a pair of soft warm lips grace his cheek. His eyes widen and his cheeks turned bright red. Weiss wasn't much different as she pulled back from Jaune's now red face.

"Well, see you tomorrow!" Weiss said as she dashed toward the dorms.

'What just happened?' Jaune asked himself.

But little did Jaune or Weiss know, that a certain raven-haired girl watched them with great envy.

'Oum dammit,' Cinder cursed, 'You win this time, Weiss. But Jaune will be mine.'

**To be continued...**


	5. First Day

* * *

If there was one thing that Jaune didn't want to do in the morning, it would be running. Guess what he is doing while the sun is barely rising? That's right! Running his ass off alongside his friends.

To make things worse, Jaune didn't get breakfast. But at least, the Beacon uniforms were really loose, making it much easier to move in.

They ran and ran down the endless hallways to get into class in time.

The door to Professor Port's class swang open to reveal the three teams, Team JNPR, RWBY, and CNEM.

"Ah, so good for you all to join us!" Professor Port greeted, "Please, take a seat."

The three teams took seats on the first row as Port continued his lesson.

"Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey," Professor Port laughed at the end of the statement.

No one laughed.

Port continued his lecture. "And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! There used to be _five_ kingdoms! But unfortunately, the fifth, _Xerxes_, a kingdom filled with wealth and culture, perished in only one night. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures..."

Ruby "accurately" illustrated pictures of Port. Weiss admirably paid attention to the lecture and took notes rapidly. Blake read her own book called "Ninjas of Love". Yang wasn't paying attention at all.

Cinder was also paying attention and was taking notes as rapid as Weiss. It was almost like the two were racing. Emerald was using her semblance on Port to make it seem like she and Marcy were paying attention when in reality, they were playing games on their scrolls. Neo was making a pyramid out of playing cards.

Pyrrha was paying attention and taking light notes. Nora was messing with Ren, mainly with his har. Jaune was about to fall asleep. This Port guy really had a way with boring people with bloated stories.

'I'll just rest my eyes,' Jaune thought as he closed his eyes.

Right when Port's voice was about to be fully drowned out, someone slapped him awake.

He jolted up to see Neo holding her laughter.

"Can't you let a guy sleep?" Jaune whispered tirelessly.

Neo shook her head with a wide smile.

"You know..." Jaune said with a scheming smile, "I might not give you any ice cream for that stunt."

The color from Neo's face drained at that statement. She started holding Jaune's arm and shaking it frantically. Jaune started to laugh quietly.

"Ahem!" Port grunted loudly before continuing his lecture.

"So, what did I miss?" Jaune quietly asked Neo.

Neo responded to Jaune's question by pointing at Weiss, who looked like she was about to break the desk from how vigorous she was writing. Her hand was so strained that the whites of her knuckles were showing. Cinder was also taking notes at a fast rate. In fact, steam could be seen coming off the paper.

They kept writing until...

_ ***SNAP*** _

Both their pencils snapped in half. Surprisingly, both of them didn't bring spares. And were way too prideful to ask for a spare from a classmate.

Weiss' eyes met amber-eyes. Soon, the white-haired girl glared at Cinder who glared back. The three teams watched the conflict happen and were too nervous to do anything.

"A huntsman must be honorable!" Port continued.

Cinder and Weiss simultaneously gritted their teeth.

"A true huntsman must be dependable!"

They're glares somehow got even more intense.

"A true huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise!"

The three teams started to sweat.

"Who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do sir!" Cinder and Weiss shouted raising their hands then glared at each other.

"HOHO! Eager are we?" Port laughed, "but I believe another student exhibits these traits far better...Jaune! Come down, please!"

"Aw, great," Jaune muttered.

"Do you need to go to the locker room to change into your battle gear?" Port asked.

"No, it's fine," Jaune said as he clapped his hands together. A blade formed from his arm.

He walked down to Professor Port's desk.

"Interesting weapon!" Port praised.

Port then walked to a cage on the opposite side of the room.

"Yeah, let's go Jaune!" Ruby cheered.

"Fight well!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

Blake waved a small flag, while Neo got a giant banner out of nowhere with Jaune's name on it.

"Yeah! Jauney boy!" Marcy raised her fist.

"Go! Fearless leader!" Nora cheered.

The three teams, except Weiss and Cinder, cheered loudly. Jaune sheepishly waved at his excited friends.

"Alright! Let the match begin!"

Jaune's brain had to do a 180. "Wait. Whaaa-"

Port opened the cage to let loose a giant boar-like creature, a Boarbatusk.

"Great," Jaune sighed.

The Boarbatusk screeched as it charged the blond boy.

"Don't try to harm the exterior it's way too dense!" Cinder recommended fiercely.

"Aim for the underbelly!" Weiss recommended even more fiercely.

The two then looked at each other. They in turn scoffed at the other's recommendation.

Jaune ignored the two bantering.

Jaune blocked the talons of the Grimm creature.

'C'mon Jaune think, what are talons made of?' Jaune brainstormed, 'A talon is a bone. A bone is made of Oxygen, Sodium, Iron, and...Carbon...That's it!'

Jaune clapped his hands together and swiftly placed them on the talons. The bones then exploded off at the base of them. This caused the boar to be sent back in shock.

'Now, that it's disarmed. It's time to end this,' Jaune thought as he waited for the boar to charge again.

The talon less Grimm then charged once more. Jaune placed his hands on the ground and made a ramp for the Grimm to run on mindlessly. Once the boar launched off the ramp revealing its underside, Jaune slid under it and stabbed the belly. The boar disintegrated instantly.

"Well, done Mr. Arc," The professor praised, "But, I must ask, how did you disarm the talons?"

"Well, I used my semblance," Jaune stated.

"And how did you use your semblance?"

"Well, I deconstructed the Carbon molecules in the talons and that caused everything to fall apart. Since Carbon is the spine of any organic being, I separated it from the other molecules causing the bones to split," Jaune explained.

"I see! Well done, young man!" Port praised once more, "But why not do that technique toward the whole anatomy of bones?"

"If I did that it would have taken longer making me lose the fight," Jaune said, "In other words, it was easier what I did."

Port laughed in a hearty manner. "I suggest everyone take a note or two from Jaune here!" Port exclaimed, "Also, there will be an essay assigned today."

Everyone collectively groaned.

"Class dismissed!"

* * *

After a busy first day, the three teams collectively sighed, mainly because of the workload that was assigned. They were currently walking down to their dorms.

"Geez, that old fart needs to learn that first day isn't suppose to have any homework assignments," Yang complained, "You don't assign a freakin' essay on the first day."

"At least we got to see Jaune fight!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Yeah, that was pretty sick," Marcy agreed.

"Oh c'mon!" Jaune refuted, "It was nothing! I am sure anyone could have done it better than I have. I just got incredibly lucky."

Cinder and Weiss smiled at the statement from their favorite knight.

'He's so graceful,' Cinder mentally admired.

'Always too modest,' Weiss also admired.

Neo then hopped on Jaune's back and started hugging him tightly.

"Neo!" Jaune exclaimed.

Neo then displayed her scroll to Jaune.

"Shut up! And take our compliments," Jaune read out loud, he then shook his head, "But it's tru"

"Jaune, you are much too modest," Pyrrha agreed.

"Um, okay?" Jaune said in confusion at the praise. Jaune then smiled at his friend's support.

"We should probably get to work on our essay," Blake suggested in her usual monotone voice.

"I am gonna go to the library," Jaune stated as he began walking ahead of the group, "I am going to do some _studying,_ wanna come with Cinder?"

Cinder's eyes widen in understanding of Jaune's statement. "Yes, I would like to."

"But I need to stop by the dorm to get something is that alright?" Jaune asked.

"It's fine," Cinder confirmed, "It's on the way."

Then the two began to walk off. Everyone looked at them in confusion. But Weiss looked at Cinder with contempt.

'Jaune, what are you planning to do?' Weiss thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a particular happy orange-haired girl. "Let's go spy on them!" Nora cried.

"Did someone mention a spying mission?" Ruby chirped in excited.

"What!" Weiss cried, "That's incredibly inappropriate."

"Oh c'mon ice queen," Marcy nudged Weiss's elbow, "We all know you want to spy on the two, especially, _Jaune_."

Weiss' cheeks got extremely red.

"LET'S DO IT!" Nora cried.

"Nora," Ren said, "Calm down."

"Thank you, Ren," Weiss sighed in relief.

"Once you have calmed down, we commence our spying attempt," Ren finished his statement.

"WHAT! NO!" Weiss exclaimed.

"It would be an interesting first mission," Blake added.

"Hm, seems to be an invasion of space," Pyrrha stated.

"Because it is," Weiss said.

"Let's put it to a vote!" Ruby said, "Raise your hand if you don't want to spy on Jaune and Cinder's suspicious activity."

Only Weiss and Pyrrha raised their hands.

"Now, raise your hand if you want to spy on the couple?"

Everyone else raised their hands quickly.

"Well, let's go!" Yang shouted as she started marching toward the Beacon Library.

Weiss sighed as she everyone began walking. She then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Emerald looking at her with a slight smile.

"Don't worry Weiss," Emerald reassured, "If they start getting _frisky,_ we'll stop them before it gets a bit too explicit."

"Shut up," Weiss grumbled.

* * *

RWBYNEMNPR made it to the library. They sneakily walked into the library doors without attracting too much attention.

The group slithered along the shelves of books until they saw the couple at a table. Books and papers were scattered across the flat surface.

"Looks like they're just studying," Yang stated disappointed.

"I am sure they're reading dirty books," Ruby smiled, "Like Blake does!"

"Hey! No, I don't!" Blake blushed.

"Ren go look and see what they're looking at!" Nora commanded.

"How would that work?" Weiss asked annoyed that they were spying on Jaune and Cinder.

"Ren's semblance allows him to not be noticed by people or Grimm when activated," Nora answered.

Ren activated his semblance as a pink aura surrounded him. He calmly walked up to the duo's table and examined at what they were studying.

After a while, he came back.

"So! Were they reading filth?!" Nora asked excitedly.

"No, they were reading food recipes."

Everyone collectively sighed in disappointment, except for Weiss. "What kind of food recipes?"

Ren raised his eyebrows. "Well, I didn't read the whole entire thing, but I remember reading something about green tea and carrot cake. Also, the recipe's had an extraordinary amount of steps," Ren responded.

Weiss smiled. "They aren't just reading recipe's."

"What are you talking about ice queen?" Marcy asked.

"Well, Jaune's semblance requires him to do research on it," Weiss explained, "The only way for him to be more knowledgable is through getting previous Alchemy notes that are pretty old and are in code because of how protective the alchemists were back then."

Everyone looked confused.

Weiss sighed. "In other words, he and Cinder are deciphering special food recipe's to gain more knowledge and get stronger."

Everyone collectively "Ahh"ed at Weiss' explanation.

"Why are we 'ah'ing?" Jaune asked the group.

Everyone jumped in shock.

"Do we have stalkers?" Cinder asked behind from Jaune. She then turned to Weiss. "I am not really surprised you're spying on us."

Weiss grew visibly irritated. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"It means that you don't trust Jaune to be on his own with another girl," Cinder responded with the smile that Weiss hated so much, "Do you not trust him to act appropriately around me?"

"Of course, I do," Weiss sneered.

"Sure, you do," Cinder smiled deviously.

Emerald walked over to Jaune and patted him on the shoulder. "Please be more specific next time you invite someone. It's really misleading."

"Sorry about that," Jaune apologized.

Cinder frowned as she turned to her team members, "Now, enlighten me on why _you three_ followed me?"

The three girls started to get nervous.

"Um, w-well you s-see Cinder. It's j-just that...um" Marcy stuttered.

"What she's trying to say is that we were just making sure that Jaune wouldn't distract you during your study period," Emerald finished Marcy's statement.

Neo and Marcy nodded and agreed with Emerald.

"**Is that so?**" Cinder asked in a dark tone, "If that was the case, why do you not trust Jaune to be **studious**? Are you trying to infer that he's **dumb**? That he's a **slacker**?"

The three started to visibly shake. Cinder started laughing totally changing her mood. "Don't be so uptight! I was just joking!" Cinder giggled, "Don't worry about it."

The three looked collectively sighed relieved.

"So, you two weren't doing anything inappropriate?" Nora asked disappointed.

Cinder gained a heavy blush. While Jaune gained a confused look. "N-No," Cinder stuttered, "Why w-would I do such a thing?"

"Oh c'mon!" Nora shouted, "Don't be like that! You're not that dense are you?"

Cinder's blush only got brighter. "I a-assure you that I-I would not do anything inappropriate with Jaune," the raven-haired girl stoically stuttered.

Weiss gained a scheming smile and whispered, "I am sure you would like to."

Cinder gained an equally scheming smile. "I'm sure you would too."

Weiss gained a light blush on her pale face from her attempt at teasing that had backfired.

Emerald walked over to Jaune and patted him on the shoulder. "Please be more specific next time you invite someone. It's really misleading."

"Oh sorry about that," Jaune smiled meekly.

"Wait, why aren't you two working on the essay that Port assigned?" Yang asked.

"Oh, me and Cinder already finished it," Jaune answered.

"It's no fair!" Yang complained, "Why are you two so responsible and smart!"

"It isn't that hard," Jaune said.

"But I don't want to write," Yang complained once more, "It's so much work."

"Oh, suck it up blonde," Cinder teased.

"Blake! They're being mean to me!" Yang cried with fake tears in her eyes.

"Yang, you should listen to their advice," Blake suggested.

"My own partner turned against me!" Yang cried louder, "Ruby! My loyal sister! Please support me!"

"Um, Yang I think you should listen to their advice," Ruby smiled.

Yang looked so broken. "How could have this have happened to me!" Yang over-dramatically said.

Jaune chuckled. "I could help with your schoolwork, if you want it," Jaune offered with a smile.

Yang surprisingly gained an uncharacteristic blush. 'There's that smile again,' Yang thought to herself.

"Why is your face red, Yang?" The young Rose asked.

Yang quickly turned back to usual self. "I think you're starting to become colorblind Ruby," Yang joked.

"No, I'm not!" Ruby exclaimed.

Yang felt Neo tap on her shoulder gaining Yang's attention. Neo then held up her scroll which displayed a picture of Yang's face with a bright red hue covering the cheeks.

"Wha-?" Yang said dumbfounded, "How did you-?"

"We're getting off-topic!" Nora cried once more.

"Right," Weiss sighed, "So, I see that you're still working on deciphering those Alchemy notes."

"Yup!" Jaune confirmed.

"I see, you continued without me," Weiss said.

"Oh, sorry about that," Jaune apologized.

"It's fine," Weiss stated, "It would have been nice if you invited me to decipher with you just like we used to."

Jaune chuckled. "Well, would you like to decipher meticulous and tedious notes with me and Cinder?" Jaune asked.

Weiss smiled. "Yes, I would like to."

"That is just _fantastic,"_ Cinder sneered.

Weiss glared at Cinder as she approached her. "Well, it seems that we'll be working together after all."

Cinder sighed. "So, it seems."

"It looks like nothing happened then," Ren stated.

"Yeah..." Nora said disappointed.

"Well, we should head out then," Blake suggested.

"Yeah, we have an essay to work on," Emerald said.

"Ah! Don't remind me!" Yang cried once more.

"I'll stay here," Jaune stated as he went back to translating Alchemy notes, "I need to get these out of the way

"I'll help you," Weiss said.

Cinder scoffed as she continued deciphering notes along Jaune.

"Neo? You comin'?" Marcy asked the girl who was staying behind.

Neo displayed her scroll. _"You guys go ahead, I'll stick with the boss!"_

Marcy and Emerald smiled at the nickname Neo displayed.

"I guess I'll stay behind also," Pyrrha stated, "I would like to get to know more about my partner and leader."

"I'll stay too!" Ruby cheered, "I have to keep my partner company!"

"You sure?" Yang asked her little sister.

"Yeah! I want to make more friends!" Ruby cheered.

Yang was surprised but then smiled in approval as she walked away with the rest of the group.

'She's grown up so fast!' Yang thought to herself.

"Well, we should get back to work," Jaune suggested.

"Yes, I agree," Cinder said.

The trio got to work deciphering a complicated code. They worked and worked.

Neo watched her partner work, while Ruby was studying. Pyrrha was closely examining Jaune's process of translating the Alchemical transcripts.

"How do those notes work?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"Well," Jaune said, "Right now we are trying to decipher another variation of my semblance in which it manipulates air. These notes have patterns and turns that convey information. Every word and sentence is representative of a step to do in Alchemy in order to perform the variation properly."

"What's wrong with your form of Alchemy?" Pyrrha inquired.

"My form of Alchemy just covers the basics which are just deconstructing materials and reconstructing those materials into whatever I want," Jaune took a deep breath, "But there will be plenty of times in which I can't simply just make an item and win. I need to experiment with different forms of Alchemy to be flexible in combat."

Pyrrha looked stunned at Jaune's explanation. "Wow, that's a lot to take in," Pyrrha stated.

"Oh," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry if my explanation was too complicated."

"Oh, please," Cinder smirked, "It's not as bad as when Weiss explains stuff."

"Hey!" Weiss scolded, "What's wrong with my explanations?!"

"Well," Cinder smiled even further, "First, you over complicate things. Second, your use of weird words which makes everything confusing."

Neo then held her scroll up to Cinder who then laughed.

"What did it say?" Ruby asked curiously.

Cinder calmed herself. "Third and most importantly, she makes everything boring," Cinder read aloud, "So boring that she could narrate a roller-coaster and make it seem like one of Professor Port's lectures."

Everyone except Weiss, started laughing at Neo's explanation. Everyone calmed down as they got back to their own personal tasks.

Pyrrha watched Jaune's right metal arm smoothly moving across the table. Every time the arm bent, a soft clanking noise was heard.

"Jaune? Do you mind me asking you a personal question?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sure."

"How did you get your metal arm?"

Cinder and Neo stopped what they were doing and gained a look of uneasiness. Ruby looked confused. Weiss looked like she saw a ghost.

"Was that too personal?" Pyrrha cringed.

"No, it's fine," Jaune assured, "I don't blame you since we all barely just met."

Ruby suddenly had sparkles in her eyes. "We should have a big awesome team introduction session between our teams!" Ruby suggested enthusiastically.

There was a sudden uncomfortable silence among the hunters in training.

Jaune was the first to respond. "That sounds fantastic, Ruby," Jaune smiled.

"I suppose we still need to get acquainted with each other," Cinder agreed.

"We should do it when all the teams are here," Weiss said calming herself.

"Yeah! Let's do it now!" Ruby cheered.

"Later," Pyrrha suggested, "It's much too late, how about another day?"

"Fine," Ruby grumbled.

"Well, now that you mentioned it," Jaune noticed, "It is getting pretty late, we should head back."

Everyone nodded and gathered their things. Everyone was ready, except for Neo. She was still sitting down and looked like she was struggling to get up.

"Neo, what's wrong?" Cinder asked her teammate.

Neo looked at Cinder with a forced smile as she held up her scroll. _"My legs are asleep."_

Cinder sighed. "You should stop eating so much ice-cream," Cinder shook her head and gained a smile, "You know eating all that junk goes down to your thighs."

Neo pouted and displayed her scroll once more, _"Shut up! Help me up."_ Neo struggled to get up, but fell over her chair and was now on the floor.

Cinder struggled to hold her laughter, unlike Ruby, who was on the floor laughing. Pyrrha had a small smile. Weiss was covered her mouth, hiding her wide smile.

Jaune chuckled as he walked over to the now fallen girl. He picked her up bridal style. Neo was blushing heavily as Jaune's arms held her up.

"Well, let's go!" Jaune cheered as he walked with Neo in his arms.

The girls looked at the close duo with looks of envy and jealousy.

Neo noticed their looks. She stuck her tongue out and smiled victoriously.

Cinder's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Ruby pouted while Weiss gritted her teeth. Pyrrha just apathetically waved at her.

They sighed as they followed Jaune and Neo.

* * *

After WCN went to their respective rooms, Jaune walked with Pyrrha to their dorm. There was a close and intimate silence between the two.

"Sorry about making you feel uncomfortable back there," Pyrrha said breaking the silence.

"No, it's fine," Jaune assured, "I get asked a lot. I'm kind of got numb when it comes to my arm. I just accepted it and also my decisions that brought me here."

"What kind of decisions lead to you losing your arm?"

"Quite a lot actually," Jaune remarked, "There are not washing your hands, getting your arm bitten off, having it burned off, and-"

"Jaune," Pyrrha interrupted him, "Seriously, I just want to let you know that I am here to help. You could talk to me if you want to. I am your partner after all."

"Thanks, Pyrrha," Jaune smiled, "I really appreciate you. I must be the luckiest guy in Remnant to have you as a partner. I actually haven't talked about my arm in a long time. I guess you really are as great as everyone says you are."

Pyrrha blushed at his compliments. Throughout her whole life as a celebrity, every compliment felt fake. Their purpose was just to get on her good side.

But Jaune's words felt genuine. That's the only way she could describe them. She didn't know what to feel. It wasn't anything bad nor was it as simple to just describe the feeling as relief.

"Well, we're here," Jaune said as he stopped in front of their dorm's door.

"Oh, so we are," Pyrrha said hiding her disappointment.

As the two entered the room, Jaune reached into his pockets to get his scroll but didn't find it. He dug deeper but still didn't find it.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked concerned.

"I think I lost my scroll," Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Where did you think you lost it?" Pyrrha asked trying to help Jaune.

"Well," Jaune said thoughtfully, "I definitely had it with me before you guys paid me and Cinder a visit."

Jaune thought to the conversation between him and the three teams and thought of his little interaction between him and Emerald.

Jaune sighed. "I think I know where it is."

"Do you need help?" Pyrrha offered.

"No, it's fine," Jaune smiled, "I got this."

Jaune walked out of the dorm leaving the remainder of JNPR in the room.

"Isn't our fearless leader cool, Ren?"

Pyrrha looked to the source of the voice and saw Nora and Ren looking at Pyrrha.

"Sure," Ren said.

"You think he knows what a sloth sounds like?" Nora asked.

"I still don't think they make any noise," Ren smiled.

"Yeah, they do!" Nora countered, "They go RAWWR!"

Pyrrha smiled. 'This is one interesting team I'm on,' Pyrrha thought to herself.

* * *

Jaune walked into the open courtyard. It was dark and the sun had fallen quite a while ago. He saw a familiar figure near the fountain in the center of the area.

"About time, Jaune," the figure said playfully, "You really can keep a girl waiting."

"Geez Em," Jaune sighed, "You need to stop stealing my crap just to talk to me."

"Don't pretend you don't enjoy it," Emerald smiled.

"Just give me back my scroll," Jaune requested.

"Just take a seat Jaune," Emerald said as she sat down on the edge of the fountain.

Jaune chuckled as he sat to the left of her. "What's bothering you?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing," Emerald responded, "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Jaune questioned.

"I don't know," Emerald said, "Well, it would be pretty great if you wrote my essay."

"Sorry, can't do that," Jaune declined, "That's against the rules."

"You're such a goody-two-shoes!" Emerald playfully punched Jaune's metal arm which backfired. "Ow! Sweet Oum, did you really have to make your arm out of iron?"

"Well, it wasn't my choice," Jaune defended, "Weiss made it after all."

"Yeah," Emerald agreed, "But Cinder could've changed it out for something less dense."

"Yeah but she doesn't know how to make a whole entire new arm," Jaune said, "She only knows how to maintain and repair it.

"Oh my Oum, Jaune," Emerald said as she leaned on Jaune's right side, "Stop being such a smart ass. You always make me look dumb!"

"Oh," Jaune timidly scratched the back of his head, "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry that you're smarter," Emerald giggled at the boy's behavior, "What are you going to do about Weiss and Cinder?"

"What about them?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Well, they're going to see a lot more of the other's face," Emerald explained, "And it's also important to note that they hate each other's guts. Why did you get Weiss to help you and Cinder with those notes when it is pretty clear that they hate each other?"

"I want them to bury the hatchet," Jaune answered.

"So you're forcing them to work with each other?" Emerald questioned.

"Well, I'm not forcing them," Jaune clarified, "They could quit anytime they want. I think they want to make mends with each other. They may not want to admit it, but they secretly want to be friends again."

"Wow, that's quite a risk," Emerald commented, "But who knows, you may save some lives from their paths of wrath."

"That's what I'm hoping to do," Jaune said, "Now, can you give me my scroll?"

"Fine, you little baby," Emerald smiled as she passed Jaune his scroll.

"Well, I'm going to get some much-needed shut-eye," Jaune said as he rose up, '"You should get some too."

"Heh, I don't need it," Emerald said playfully, "Don't you know Jaune? I'm a nocturnal animal. I hunt all my prey at night."

"Whatever," Jaune said as he walked back to his dorm.

'I guess I should get some sleep,' Emerald thought as she too began walking back to her dorm.

* * *

Emerald opened the door to her room and entered it. Luckily, her teammates were asleep. She quietly closed the door.

"So, how was your talk with Jaune?" a voice whispered.

Emerald was startled but not surprised. "It was fine, Marcy," Emerald whispered back.

"Did you find anything _steamy _on his scroll?" Marcy asked.

"No, I didn't look," Emerald responded as she got in her bed.

"What? You're telling me that you stole a cute boy's scroll and didn't look in it?" Marcy teased.

"No, I respect his privacy," Emerald stated.

"But, don't you wanna see his _privates?" _Marcy even teased further.

Emerald blushed. "I-I-I am n-not interested," Emerald stuttered.

"Sure you are," Marcy said unconvinced, "But I don't blame you, he is really cute and so buff." Marcy was practically drooling at this point.

"Just shut up and sleep," Emerald said.

"Fine."

As Emerald's eyes closed a single thought came to her head. 'He is really cute,' She mentally agreed.

**To Be continued...**


	6. Introductions

* * *

"W-Weiss?" A ten-year-old blond boy said as he looked around his surroundings, "Where am I?"

He was in an empty white abyss. Behind him was a grand black pair of doors with multiple symbols scribed on it.

"Ah, about time a human visited me," a voice commented.

Jaune's eyes widened as a white figure with a mouth that was about his height formed in front of him.

"W-Who are you?" Jaune asked confused.

"I am so glad you asked," the figure smiled, "You may have many names for me. You may call me Creator. You may even call me God. But, you know me better as The Brother of Light."

Jaune's eyes widen in shock. "W-What? What's going on here?"

Suddenly, the pair of doors opened. Jaune turned around to see a giant eye in a black mass of the opening.

"You offered a helping arm to a friend," the figure said as Jaune screamed. He was pulled into the void by flat shadow-like hands. "Now, it shall be taken away."

The doors closed sealing Jaune's fate.

* * *

Jaune felt a stinging in his cheeks as he jolted up.

"Neo," Jaune sighed, "You need to stop doing that."

Neo simply cocked her head to the side and smiled.

"Mr. Arc."

Jaune looked to the source of the voice to see, a blond-haired woman with glasses. 'Oh crap,' Jaune thought nervously.

Miss Goodwitch pushed up her glasses. "I would very much appreciate it if you didn't sleep during my class and get your appropriate hours of sleep the night before," She suggested strongly.

"Sorry, Miss Goodwitch," Jaune smiled weakly.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Glynda nodded, "Also, you're sparring against Cardin Winchester."

"Wait, what!" Jaune cried out, "Can I just not do that?"

"Why scared, _Fullmetal_?" Cardin shouted causing him and his team to snicker.

Jaune shook his head, 'He really isn't dropping that nickname,' Jaune thought to himself. Cardin started calling him _"Fullmetal"_ mainly because of his metal arm. 'It doesn't even make sense,' Jaune said to himself, 'I'm not even made fully out of metal.'

RWBYCNEMNPR glared at Cardin and his goons.

"You can," Glynda paused as Jaune looked relieved, "If you want your grade to go down."

Jaune sighed. "I'll go get changed then," Jaune said defeated.

* * *

Jaune left the locker room and entered the arena. Jaune wore his typical outfit which was jeans and a black sweatshirt. He saw Cardin, already in his combat outfit, leaning on his mace.

"You arrived late, Jaune," Cardin commented, "I guess you're really trying to delay the inevitable."

"There was a time I was supposed to get here?" Jaune asked confused, "I don't remember Miss Goodwitch telling us a time to be here by."

Weiss, Cinder, and Pyrrha started to smile at the goofiness of their blond knight.

"Let's go Fearless Leader!" Nora cheered.

"Quiet down everyone," Glynda commanded, "Now, you two are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Cardin smirked.

Jaune simply nodded.

"Both combatants are ready!" Glynda exclaimed.

"You know this isn't an actual tournament, right?" Cinder asked with her signature devious smile, "I swear more and more you turning to an _old hag_."

A vein appeared above Glynda's eyebrow but she just ignored her and shouted, "BEGIN!"

Cardin smirked as he stood straight up and got his mace ready. Jaune clapped his gloved hands together and placed them on the ground creating a blinding bright blue light. A small crater was formed and in the middle, a sword took shape. The sword was made of stone but looked incredibly sturdy and durable.

Jaune's leather-covered hands swiftly wrapped around the weapon's handle. Cardin charged him raising his mace with the intent to win. Jaune parried his attack with his sword and kneed Cardin in the stomach causing him to cough violently.

Cardin pushed Jaune back and attempted to swing straight down on the blond boy's head but luckily, Jaune stopped the weapon swinging down toward him with his metal arm. Jaune then pushed the orange-haired boy back causing Cardin to be agitated and charge the sword-wielding boy once more.

Jaune quickly sidestepped him and tripped him. Cardin, now off-balance, tried to get his balance back but Jaune quickly slashed his chest causing his aura to drop significantly. Cardin fell on his bottom. Jaune walked away giving him space to get back up.

Cardin scoffed and got back up. 'He's quick,' Cardin contemplated, 'When I try to swing the bastard he keeps dodging my attacks. I better swing in the direction he dodges in and make sure his aura gets completely drained.'

Cardin charged once more while Jaune prepared to dodge and counter him again. But, as Jaune sidestepped the aggressive boy, Cardin quickly adjusted himself to where Jaune was dodging toward and swung. Jaune was surprised but wasn't panicked.

Jaune grabbed the mace that was coming at him by the handle and used his alchemy to disarm him. The orange-haired boy's mace was snapped cleanly in half, which Jaune didn't expect.

'Oopsy,' Jaune thought to himself, 'I didn't mean for it to be that effective! I guess his weapon is just...Well, not built good?'

Cardin looked shocked but reacted quickly by attempting to swing with his bare fist at Jaune.

Jaune almost instantly blocked the punch and caused Cardin's body to go off balance by pulling his arms to the right side. He swept the ginger-haired boy's left leg causing him to fall straight on his back.

Cardin was about to get up until a blade stopped him.

"Yield," Jaune commanded as he pressed his weapon toward Cardin's neck.

"Over my dead boy," Cardin sneered.

Jaune sighed as he raised his weapon. Cardin closed his eyes and anticipated the strike. Then Cardin felt a tap on his head. He opened his eyes to see Jaune with a wide grin holding a bat made of paper from all Jaune's prior classes.

"I got you didn't I," Jaune smiled.

Everyone in the arena started laughing, except for Cardin who looked angry and Glynda who looked shocked.

Cardin gritted his teeth. "You son of a bi-"

"Jaune Arc won," Glynda announced shocked.

She wasn't the only one who was shocked, nearly the whole class was too. Everyone looked at the monitor to see Cardin's aura in the red, while Jaune's was untouched.

"What the hell?" Cardin asked shocked and angry.

"Well, class Mr. Winchester's aura is in the red making Mr. Arc the winner. Mr. Arc was able to become victorious with his use of his quick thinking and also fast reactions. The technique shown by Mr. Arc is very clean and is also very flexible," Glynda observed, "But please Mr. Arc please take this exercise more seriously next time."

"Heh, sorry couldn't help it," Jaune smiled.

"Mr. Winchester, your style of fighting is much too linear," Glynda criticized, "Despite your effort to counter Jaune's counters, your bruiting style be effective in that situation. Maybe your efforts would have beaten an inexperienced fighter, but it won't make the cut here in Beacon."

Cardin scoffed. "Whatever," He said as he walked to the locker rooms.

Jaune walked in front of him. "Hey, that was a good spar!" Jaune praised putting his right gloved-hand out, "Sorry, about the mace."

Cardin grew annoyed and simply bumped into his shoulder. He kept on walking with rage and frustration illuminating from him.

Jaune had a face of confusion. 'Did I say something?'

* * *

"Jaune, why are you so awesome?" Ruby asked enthusiastically.

"IT'S BECAUSE HE'S AN AWESOME LEADER!" Nora shouted.

"Nora," Ren said, "Inside voices, please."

"Sorry, Ren," Nora smiled apologetically.

"It was a very entertaining fight," Pyrrha commented.

"It was quite satisfying to see that Cardin boy got what he deserved," Cinder agreed as she took a bite from her apple.

"I don't know," Jaune said honestly, "I actually don't know what you guys are talking about."

The three teams were currently seated in the cafeteria having lunch and were conversing with each other on Jaune's fight.

"Oh c'mon Jauney boy!" Marcy said as she started putting Jaune in a headlock, "Stop being so damn coy! You need to brag once in a while!"

Jaune then started to tap out.

"Marcy," Emerald said, "I think you should let Jaune go."

The grey-haired girl finally relented and released the blond boy.

"Anyway!" Ruby said changing the subject, "Who's ready for team introductions!"

"Is that today?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yep!" Ruby confirmed, "I even rented out a classroom just for our teams' bonding!"

"Wow," Emerald said impressed, "You're pretty ready or this."

"Seriously," Weiss agreed, "She stayed up all night trying to make this thing happen."

"She even talked about it in her sleep," Blake commented.

"She even made sketches planning the whole shin-dig happen!" Yang chimed in.

"It's very admirable," Jaune smiled, "It is the true signs of a leader!"

Ruby blushed at the comment. "N-N-No way! It w-was nothing!" She stuttered.

Marcy started to chuckle. "Looks like Jaune's humbleness is starting to rub off on Ruby," Marcy smirked.

"Um..." Ruby blushed even harder. Her face was so red, it could've blended into her red cape.

"Ow! Stop that hurts!" A soft voice cried across the Cafeteria.

The three teams turned toward the direction of the voice and saw a small girl with bunny ears that were being pulled by Cardin. Cardin's goons laughed at the scene.

"See! I told you they were real," Cardin laughed.

"Please stop," The girl had tears forming in her eyes.

"It's truly despicable," Cinder sneered.

"I can't stand people like him," Pyrrha said.

Blake had an intense stare on Cardin until her eyes wondered to a particular blond boy walking toward the scene.

"Jaune?" She asked in curiosity.

Soon the other members saw Jaune with a subtle frown on his face approaching Cardin.

"Excuse me?" Jaune asked politely.

Cardin's face turned to a frown as he faced Jaune but still held on the bunny ears. "What do you want, _Fullmetal_?" Cardin asked.

"Could you not do that please?" Jaune asked trying to keep a calm manner, "It's quite apparent that she wishes to be left alone."

Cardin scoffed as he further pulled the ears causing the girl to whimper in pain.

Jaune's patience broke, his glove covered hands grabbed Cardin's wrist and put pressure on a specific joint that released the girl and Jaune quickly cradled the girl.

"Are you okay?" Jaune asked softly.

"I-I-I'm f-fine," The girl stuttered.

Jaune smiled in relief as he and the girl slowly walked away. Cardin looked at Jaune with hate. He then clenched his fists as he raised them and attempted to swing at the back of Jaune's head.

His fists were met with a pale hand stopping them in their tracks. Cardin looked surprised to see a white-haired girl with blue eyes in his way.

"That's a pretty cheap shot," Weiss stated.

Cardin growled as he reeled back his other fist.

"What is going on here?" A voice cried out.

Everyone turned to see Headmistress Goodwitch approaching the scene.

"I simply protected Jaune and that girl," Weiss pointed at Jaune and the rabbit girl, "from being further assaulted by Cardin."

"Is this true, Mr. Winchester?" The woman asked.

Cardin scoffed. "No, I was only joking around with the two until ice brat took it way too seriously," Cardin said.

"Actually, that's not true," A familiar voice denied.

They turned to see Cinder walking over to them. She then held up her scroll to show Glynda the scene that truly took place.

Glynda nodded. "It seems to me that you were indeed lying to me," The blond woman pushed her glasses up, "Two weeks of detention for you and your team."

Cardin gritted his teeth. "Understood, Ma'am," Cardin growled.

Cardin and his gang quickly walked away. Glynda then turned to Jaune, Weiss, and Cinder. "I appreciate you threes efforts to stop those boys," Glynda praised.

"No problem," Cinder smiled, "After all, you can't see everything that happens here with your old dinosaur eyes."

A giant vein appeared on the blond woman's forehead. "**Don't push your luck**," She said trying to keep her calm.

The headmistress walked away attempting to keep her grace.

"T-Thank you," The girl with bunny ears said timidly.

Jaune looked down at her and smiled warmly. "Oh, it's nothing!" Jaune assured, "I'm Jaune Arc. What's your name?"

"It's V-Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina," The girl answered shyly.

"Well it's good to meet you," Jaune smiled brightly.

"Me too," Velvet blushed under Jaune's smile.

"Jaune let's go," Cinder said annoyed, "Our next class is starting soon."

"Oh right!" Jaune said happily, "I guess I'll see you later."

As Jaune walked away with his friends, Velvet stood there with red cheeks. She had a hand over her rapidly beating heart.

"I hope I see more of him," Velvet spoke softly to herself.

"Oh? See more of who?" A voice behind her whispered.

Velvet quickly turned around to see her partner and team leader. She had brown hair and a streak of an orange tint in it. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses and had a beret resting on her head. "C-Coco!" Velvet stuttered in surprise.

"So who is the lucky guy?" Coco asked curiously, "Is he single? Ready to mingle?"

"Coco!" Velvet cried in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry bun," Coco smiled apologetically, "So who is this new guy?"

"Well," Velvet paused trying to find the words to describe the blond boy, "I met him after Cardin was pulling on my ears-"

"WAIT! CARDIN DID THAT!" Coco screamed, "**I am going to kill him.**"

"I-It's fine! Jaune came in and stopped him," Velvet explained.

"Oh! So his name's Jaune?" Coco smiled, "Guess, I have to evaluate him to see if he's fit for you. If not, then I'll settle for him."

"Coco! Please, don't do that!" Velvet begged.

Coco laughed, "We'll see," Coco smiled.

* * *

Jaune, Weiss, and Cinder caught up with their teams and started to head towards their next class.

"Hey, Cinder," The Schnee Heiress said.

Cinder turned to her.

"Thanks for helping me back there," Weiss said.

"It's really nothing," Cinder refuted, "Any decent person would've helped you and Jaune."

Weiss nodded at that response.

'Looks like we're still on a shaky foundation,' Weiss thought to herself.

The white-haired girl's thoughts were interrupted by a particular black-haired girl.

"It was very brave of you three to go help that girl," Blake said, "Especially you, Weiss."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" Weiss asked.

"I mean that I wasn't expecting a Schnee to stand up for a Faunus," Blake explained.

Weiss understood what she meant. She knew her family's history with Faunuses and how her family degraded them.

"I don't think it matters if a person is a Faunus or not," Weiss explained, "It is true that my family's company uses Faunuses as slaves, but when I am in control of the company it will be different."

Everyone was collectively surprised, even Jaune and Cinder were caught off by Weiss' response.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that?" Weiss asked.

Everyone quickly stopped looking at her and continued to walk to class.

'I suppose Weiss really has changed quite a considerable amount,' Cinder thought to herself.

* * *

"Ah yes, the Faunus Revolutionary War!" Professor Oobleck zoomed across the room, "It all started 15 years ago by an Atlasian soldier shooting a child Faunus. Truly terrible!"

Everyone was trying to keep up with Professor Oobleck's lecture. Emphasis on _trying._

"This lead to a 7-month conflict before Atlas decided to execute Order 3066!" Professor Oobleck lectured, "Can anyone tell me what Order 3066 allowed?"

Weiss raised her hand and the professor called her name.

"Order 3066 allowed Atlas to use their arsenal of Hunters and Huntresses against the Faunuses," Weiss explained.

"Yes! Very good!" Professor Oobleck praised, "Many Faunus lives were taken after that, many Faunuses had to surrender to Atlas."

Professor Oobleck slowed down and stood proudly in the front of the room. "If anyone feels brave enough to, who here has been subjected to discrimination because of their Faunus heritage?"

Velvet, who was in the class, meekly raised her hand along with a handful of others.

Professor Oobleck shook his head. "Dreadful, truly dreadful," Oobleck stated, "Remember student this kind of ignorance and hate breeds violence!"

Those who raised their hands put them down. Jaune's eyes glanced over to those who raised their hands and they stopped on Velvet who was putting her hand down. Her brown eyes got caught in blue eyes. Jaune warmly smiled at her causing her to blush and look swiftly back at Professor Oobleck doing his lecture.

"Unfortunately, The Faunus Civil War wasn't the last conflict between Faunuses and Humans," Oobleck continued, "Can anyone tell me another example of Faunus and human conflicts?"

Cardin then threw a paper ball at the back of Jaune's head. Jaune turned around and looked incredibly annoyed.

"Jaune Arc!" Professor Oobleck called out, "You have been quiet, why not inform us of other conflicts?"

Jaune sighed. "Well, we do we really need to look?" Jaune asked rhetorically.

Everyone started to chuckle at his response except for Oobleck who looked intrigued.

"Silence please," Oobleck commanded, "Explain Jaune."

"Well, it is happening every day," Jaune explained, "There are constant examples and moments of a Faunus and Human butting heads. You would have to be blind to not see the constant amounts of riots and protests done by both Humans and Faunuses"

"Well said," Oobleck praised.

'That response shouldn't surprise me,' Cinder thought, 'But him saying things like that keeps on doing so."

Weiss had similar thoughts to the amber-eyed girl.

Blake, Pyrrha and Velvet looked at him with admiration while Cardin scoffed. Oobleck zoomed to Cardin's seat and stared at him.

"Excuse me, Mr. Winchester," Oobleck said, "Have anything else to contribute to the discussion?"

"Well I guess you could say Jaune's right," Cardin grinned, "There are people who are trying to put _animals_ in their rightful place."

Everyone in the room stared at Cardin. Everyone looked at him with a mixture of contempt and disgust. The only people who enjoyed his response were his teammates.

Weiss scoffed at his response. This ticked Cardin off.

"What's the matter, ice brat?" Cardin asked.

"That's pretty rich coming from a total buffoon who acts less civilized than any '_animal' _I have ever seen," Weiss remarked.

"What did you just say!" Cardin growled.

"Enough!" Oobleck exclaimed, "Mr. Winchester and Ms. Schnee, you two will be assigned a paper on the history of the Faunus Revolutionary war!"

Cardin growled while Weiss looked indifferent.

Oobleck zoomed across the classroom once more, "Let's continue with the lesson!"

* * *

"That sucks!" Yang cried.

The three teams walked down the hall to their dorms.

"You have to write another essay!" Yang said shocked, "You called out Cardin on his crap and got punished."

"Well, it was more Cardin being punished than I," Weiss smirked, "I am not even sure he even knows how to read or write."

Jaune chuckled at Weiss' joke while everyone was shocked by her humor. Jaune then felt a soft hand tap on his shoulder. Jaune turned around and looked down to see Velvet timidly standing in front of him with her hands behind her back.

"H-Hi Jaune," The bunny Faunus girl greeted.

"Hey there!" Jaune greeted back, "So, what's up?"

"Well-"

"There you are Velvet!" A girl with sunglasses called out as she approached the group.

"Coco!" Velvet scolded, "I told you to wait for me!"

"Sorry bun-bun, I'm not the patient-type," Coco's eyes wondered over to Jaune, "Oh? And who is this cutie?"

"COCO!" Velvet cried embarrassed.

"Hey, the name's Coco," Coco said in a sultry tone.

"My name's Jaune," Jaune smiled, "It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too, Jaune~," Coco said pulling her sunglasses further down making Weiss, Cinder, and Pyrrha agitated while Ruby was confused and Blake looked concerned, "So hot stuff, any plans tonight?"

"Well," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, "I wouldn't really call myself hot stuff. Maybe calling me Jaune would be more appropriate. If anyone was hot stuff here it would be you."

"My! My!" Coco looked impressed, "A man with taste! I must say you are impressing me! You definitely have a way with words."

Jaune started lightly laughing at Coco's words which caused a subtle red hue to come over Coco's cheeks which almost no one caught except for Cinder and Weiss.

'Here we go again,' Cinder thought to herself.

'The laugh always brings that reaction,' Weiss commented mentally, 'I don't blame her.'

'I didn't expect that,' Coco thought, 'Usually guys just run away in embarrassment or tries to take it a step way too far!'

"So any plans for tonight?" Velvet asked a little more confident now.

"Well, we do plan on getting to know our teams better," Jaune answered.

Coco snapped out of her thoughts and put on a look of interested. "Oh? Do you mind if me and Velvet join?" Coco asked with a smile, while Velvet reverted back to her nervous-state.

Jaune was about to answer until Cinder spoke. "Sorry, but it seems like we don't have enough room for you two," Cinder responded.

"Yeah, we do," Ruby said, "We have a whole entire classroom of space!"

Cinder turned around and gave a look of disappointment to Ruby who smiled innocently.

"Oh great!" Coco cheered, "Well, it _seems_ like you do have _space._"

Cinder was still in a disappointed state, leaving Weiss to answer. "Yes, we do," Weiss said annoyed.

"Well then," Coco smiled, "Let's get this team bonding session on the road!"

Coco started walking ahead while everyone else looked confused. A few certain girls would have been happy to let Coco walking in the wrong direction of the classroom that they were suppose to meet in but Jaune put a hand on Coco's shoulder stopping her.

"I appreciate the eagerness, but I don't think you know which classroom we are meeting in," Jaune chuckled, "I should have probably told you which one it was. Sorry about that."

Coco was stumped. 'Why is he apologizing?' Coco thought, 'He didn't do anything wrong. It was my mistake.'

Coco smiled. "Then by all means," Coco said, "Lead the way."

"Sure!" Jaune smiled as he walked ahead with Coco beside him.

'Wow, he's pretty cute,' Coco though as she observed the boy up and down, 'Now I see how Velvet fell for this boy. He's so gentle and kind. He is also so handsome. I won't be surprised if I fall for him. Wait. Am I falling for him already?'

Coco's thoughts continued like this as the group walked to their designated classroom.

* * *

"Alright! Everyone, say their name and their weapon!" Ruby said the last part very eagerly, "So, who goes first?"

The teams sat together in their appropriate teams. Coco and Velvet sat next to CNEM who was also sitting next to RWBY and JNPR. Coco raised her hand and held Velvet's hand up.

"We'll go!" Coco grinned.

Velvet eyes widened at her partner's actions.

"My name is Coco Adel!" Coco stated proudly, "I am the team leader of CFVY! And this is my weapon, Gianduja!"

Coco then pulled out her pursed and it suddenly turned into a mini-gun. Everyone looked absolutely surprised by the sudden introduction of her weapon. However Ruby looked absolutely thrilled.

"WHAT!" Ruby exclaimed, "Did you make it? Is it lightweight? Or are you just really freakin' strong!"

Coco chuckled. "The answer is yes to all of that," Coco chuckled she then softly elbowed Velvet.

"Oh! Hi, my name is Velvet Scarlatina," The brown-haired Faunus introduced herself, "And this is my weapon. It's title is Anesidora."

She pulled out her camera which everyone observed.

"What does it do?" Jaune asked curiously.

Velvet blushed. "Well, I'm able to take pictures of weapons and from the details from the weapons it is able to make a light-hard copy of it."

"Wait," Ruby paused, "Are you telling me that you could pretty much make any weapon you see?"

"Well, yeah," Velvet nodded.

"That is, literally, the most awesome thing I have ever heard," Ruby stated.

"I'm guessing you use some form of light dust?" Weiss asked.

"Um yeah! It's actually hard-light dust," Velvet responded.

"That's pretty _lit!_" Yang joked which caused almost everyone to groan. But Jaune burst out laughing which Yang did not expect.

"That was pretty good," Jaune smiled.

Yang surprisingly blushed. "T-Thanks."

"Aw, that is just so adorable," Coco cooed.

Yang blushed even further.

"Who's next?" Ruby asked excited to see more.

"I guess I shall go," Cinder said as she cleared her throat, "My name is Cinder Fall, and my weapons are these." She then held up her gloves for everyone to see.

"But what are they?" Ruby asked confused, "Do they turn into rocket launchers?"

Cinder smiled. "Even better. They're dust-infused made by a certain blond boy I know," She slyly winked at Jaune, who smiled back at her, "They act as an ignition for my semblance which allows me to manipulate flames and make them any size and any speed I want."

Cinder then put on the gloves and snapped her fingers causing a small flame to hover over her hand. "It also allows me to do this," She snapped her fingers once more, the flame was extinguished and a glass sword formed in her hand. "I am able to manipulate the dust in my gloves in a way that creates weapons out of glass."

"WOW! That's like Jaune's semblance," Ruby shouted.

"Wait, what's Jaune's semblance?" Velvet asked confused.

"Well, his semblance is called and known as Alchemy and it allows me to manipulate matter and items to make whatever is needed for the occasion," Weiss explained.

"What?" Velvet looked even more confused.

"In other words, he can make whatever he wants," Emerald simplified.

"Oh, I see," Velvet nodded.

Neo and Cinder were chuckling at Weiss' overly complicated explanation while Weiss was looking slightly flustered by the duo's antics.

"Wait, I thought Alchemy didn't exist anymore," Velvet said.

"Well, it did," Jaune said.

"But not anymore!" Ruby remarked.

"Wow, Velvet looks like your boyfriend has a lot of surprises," Coco smirked.

"Coco!" Velvet blushed.

The meeting continued with the rest of CNEM being introduced. Neo shared her weaponized umbrella, and her use of glass in creating an illusion for her semblance. Emerald shared her abilities to manipulate what a person sees and her relatively tamed weapons. Marcy showed off her metal prosthetic legs which were a shock to a lot of the people in the room except her teammates, Weiss and Jaune.

The next team was team RWBY. Ruby shared her semblance and her extremely dangerous weapon. Weiss followed her, by showing off her dust, and weapon. Yang boisterously showed off her gauntlets and briefly explained her semblance and how it produces flames around her. She also made a terrible pun about her semblance which she says, "It happens when I am _fireuous (furious)._" Everyone collectively groaned while Jaune smiled at her humor causing her blush slightly. Blake was the last on RWBY to introduce herself. It was fairly minimal, she only introduced her weapon and what it did.

Last but not least, it was JNPR's turn to introduce themselves. Pyrrha went first and showed off her weapons, Miló and Akoúo, which got quite the reaction from a certain red reaper. Ren simply showed his dual weapons. Nora went after Ren and cheerfully displayed her weapon to everyone to see it's glory. Then it was Jaune's turn.

"Hi," Jaune greeted, "As most of you don't know my name is Jaune Arc. And well, I don't have a weapon."

"So you make weapons with your Alchemy?" Velvet inquired.

"Yep," Jaune confirmed, "Well, what I do is-"

"Show us an example!" Ruby shouted excited.

"Yeah, Jauney boy," Marcy smiled, "Show us your sweet skill."

"A demonstration would be nice," Emerald smiled.

Neo nodded rapidly showing off her excitement.

"Um alright," Jaune said, "I guess I will."

"Jaune, you don't need to do it if you don't want to," Pyrrha commented.

"Especially, if you aren't comfortable," Weiss added.

"Don't worry it's fine," Jaune assured, "If it makes the crowd satisfied I'll do it."

Cinder chuckled. "He's such a crowd-pleaser," Cinder laughed lightly.

"He's also an eye-pleaser," Coco whispered slyly making sure Cinder was the only one to hear her comment.

Cinder scoffed at Coco's comments. "Well, you definitely don't please the ears," Cinder mumbled which Coco heard.

Coco raised her eyebrows. "What's wrong hot-head? Am I stealing your man?" Coco smirked.

"You wish," Cinder smirked back.

'She'll be interesting to have around,' Cinder humored herself.

'I feel like this is the beginning of a long and beautiful rivalry,' Coco commented internally.

"So what do you guys want me to do?" Jaune asked.

"Just do what comes naturally," Blake suggested.

"Thanks, Blake!" Jaune smiled causing Blake to smile back with a red-hue over her cheeks, "Hm, naturally..."

'I don't want to damage the classroom,' Jaune contemplated, 'I guess I'll do something relatively simple.'

Jaune clapped his hands together, the all too familiar bright light fills Jaune and everyone else's eyes. A steel blade forms from his forearm and the blade rips through the glove on Jaune's right hand in the process. Soon a sharp blade protrudes from his metal arm.

"Well, I could make this," Jaune said as he raised his bladed arm.

"Y-You have a metal arm?" Velvet asked surprised.

"Oh yeah," Jaune displayed his arm, "It was made special just for me and it works pretty well."

"That's pretty awesome," Coco complimented.

"That's pretty _metal,_" Yang joked once more causing everyone to groan once again.

Jaune laughed. "I guess you could say, you got the _point,_" Jaune then gestured to his sharp blade which caused Yang to fall out her chair laughing. Everyone else however just groaned even louder than before.

"Not another one," Ruby groaned.

"I think that's enough for today," Cinder said as she got up from her seat.

"Yeah, we should hit the hay," Marcy agreed as she followed her team leader.

"Well, this was actually really fun," Emerald smiled, "We should do more stuff like this."

Neo simply smiled showing her satisfaction and enjoyment of the meeting.

Everyone then walked to the hallways and began walking back.

"Well, let's head back," Ruby said as she and her team began to leave with Jaune and his team following.

"Actually, I need to go to the library to return a book," Blake announced.

"Oh, ok," Ruby acknowledged.

And with that, the bow-wearing girl separated from the group and headed to the library.

* * *

Blake had a rather interesting day. Today's turn of events were very...informative.

She has learned a lot of things about her new acquaintances and will most likely learn a lot more.

She sighed as she placed her book that was reading back into the crowded shelf of books.

"Oh hey, Blake!" A familiar voice greeted.

Blake turned around to see a blond boy with a cheerful smile that greeted her.

"Hey Jaune," Blake greeted back, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just here to get a book that could help me with some research," Jaune responded.

"Oh, I see," Blake nodded, "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

Jaune looked surprised. "Oh um, didn't expect that," Jaune commented, "Yeah, sure."

Jaune took a seat from a nearby table and faced Blake who stayed standing up.

Blake cleared her throat. "What's your history with Weiss?"

Jaune sighed.

"It's a long story..."

**To Be Continued...**


	7. Flash

**** Jaune yawned as he covered his mouth with his skinny right hand. He looked at his pocket watch that had a dragon-like creature carved out, which he got as a gift from father at his recent 9th birthday. He was currently wearing a nice suit with a bow-tie to top it off. He was in the car with his dad who was driving. Jaune was currently sitting in the backseat of the car.

He was going to a Gala, which was hosted by the Schnee Dust Company. The company invited multiple Hunters and Huntresses to help raise funds for the faunuses that lost their homes during the Faunus Revolutionary War. It was held at the grand Schnee Mansion, which was where the Schnees themselves reside.

"Are you excited for tonight, boy?" His dad cheerfully asked in his boisterous voice.

The older man had a bald head with only a grand strand of blond hair sprouting from the top of his forehead. The man had a bushy blond mustache that complemented his blue-eyes. He wore the same tux as Jaune but was sizes bigger, fitting his very buff exterior. It was none other than Alex Armstrong Arc.

Jaune looked at his dad. "Yeah, I guess-"

"YOU GUESS!" The buff man exclaimed causing Jaune to chuckle at his father's response, "My glorious son! This a prestigious occasion," Jaune's dad continued, "We are witnessing history! We are witnessing the coming of a new era! AND MOST IMPORTANTLY! THERE'S FREE FOOD!"

"Dad," Jaune smiled, "If you put like that, I am definitely excited for tonight."

"That's the spirit!" Jaune's father cheered, "You truly are an Arc," Alex said the last part with a single tear of happiness coming down his eye.

"So, is Cinder coming?" Jaune inquired.

"Why yes," Mr. Arc responded, "Madam Amber is coming to this occasion with Cinder."

"Sweet!" Jaune said happily.

"I'm glad you are excited," The older Arc acknowledged, "It's so sweet seeing a young Arc find love."

"Dad!" Jaune blushed, "It isn't like that! Me and Cinder are just friends!"

"We'll see," The elder man smiled.

"I'm serious!" The young Arc pouted, "We are just friends. I was just happy that my friend was coming to this Gala thingy."

"Whatever you say, son," Alex Arc winked at his son.

Jaune sighed. "Are we there yet?" Jaune asked defeated.

"Oh? We are already here," The buff Arc stated.

"Wait. What!" Jaune exclaimed in shock, "How long have we been here?"

"We have been here for a while," Alex responded, "We got here after you asked me whether or not Cinder will be attending the gathering."

"Oh."

"It is so nice to see my son so absorbed in love that he doesn't even know where he is!" Mr. Arc stated passionately, "It's truly beautiful."

Jaune decided that was enough and left the car. The blond boy then started walking away from the car. The elder Arc rolled the window down and popped his head out.

"While I appreciate your eagerness, I don't think I told you where the Gala event was!" Jaune's father shouted humorously, "In fact, you are going the exact opposite direction of the Gala!"

Jaune then stopped in his tracks and didn't move for a little bit. Jaune then spun on his heels to face the direction of his dad's car and started walking toward it.

As young Arc walked closer and closer to the car, it was apparent that he had a red hue over his cheeks.

"Um..." Jaune rubbed the back of his head, "Where is the Gala then?"

* * *

**/-/**

* * *

Jaune and his dad walked into the grand double doors of the Schnee Manor. It truly was grand. The grand building's color palette mainly consisted of light blue and blinding white.

The blond boy examined the chandeliers to the two giant collections of knight armor standing proudly. In the far end of the room, there was a grand set of stairs that split off into two ends of the room.

The boy was easily overwhelmed by the number of people in the room. The room was absolutely crowded with chatter and words being exchanged back and forth.

Jaune couldn't believe how big this place was. 'Does anyone ever need this much space?' Jaune thought to himself, 'Gee Wiz! I could easily get lost in here!'

"Jaune."

Jaune looked up and saw his dad with a softened face.

"Will you be fine on your own?" Alex asked his son who smiled back at him.

"I'll be A-OK!" Jaune cheered and pumped up his right fist.

Alex nodded at his son's eagerness.

"Alexander," A pleasant voice called out, "You have finally arrived."

Jaune and his father looked toward the source of the voice. They saw a tanned woman wearing a brown dress which matched with her hair and eyes. Her smile radiated warmth as she approached the Arc duo.

"Madam Amber!" Alex quickly saluted the woman walking toward his direction.

She chuckled. "Alex, you need to stop being so formal with me," Amber said smiling as her eyes wandered to the young Arc, "Oh! I see you brought Jaune."

"Yes, I did," Alex smiled, "He came because of the free food!"

Jaune smiled brightly and nodded at his father's statement causing Amber to laugh.

"He truly is an Arc," Amber smiled.

"He certainly is," Alex said proudly, the very buff man then picked up Jaune and held him up proudly, "HE HAS THE ARC APPETITE THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN FOR GENERATIONS!"

Amber smiled as she shook her head at her friend's antics. 'Those two are definitely very entertaining,' Amber humored herself.

"Amber!" A voice called out causing the trio's attention to turn to a black-haired girl wearing a red dress with brown patterns across it, emerging from the crowd. "Is Jaune here? I can't find h-" The girl paused as her amber-eyes met with the blond boy's sapphire eyes. Her lips curved into a pleasant smile.

Jaune jumped out of his father's hold on him and was soon at the same level as the girl.

"Cinder!" Jaune exclaimed as he eagerly brought the girl into a hug making the girl blush.

"I see my son is also a lady's man!" Alex laughed.

Jaune quickly turned his head to pout at his dad but still didn't let go of Cinder who was enjoying the hug immensely.

"Ha! Jokes on you I don't even know what a lady-man thing even is!" Jaune smiled victoriously.

"Jaune~" Cinder whispered into the boy's chest.

Jaune looked down to see Cinder with a bright face snuggling into Jaune's embrace. "Um...Cinder are you alright?" Jaune asked confused.

Cinder smiled and looked up at Jaune. "Oh, I am more than alright," Cinder said in a playful manner.

"Well Jaune, make sure that Cinder does not cause too much ruckus," Amber glared at Cinder, who flinched under her eyes.

"I don't cause trouble," Cinder said coyly, "Trouble just comes to me."

"It's alright Madam Amber!" Jaune saluted, "I'll make sure that Cinder will not cause a hair of trouble."

Amber nodded with a smile. "Alright then, you two go along then."

And with that, the two children ran off into the sea of people in search of free food.

"He is truly an Arc and I am so proud," Alex said with tears proudly streaming down his face.

"I wonder what their wedding would be like," Amber joked.

"Ahh yes. The wedding..." Armstrong paused, "Wait! My heavens! How could I forget to plan out his wedding! I plan his whole entire education plan and life but I forgot his wedding! Oh, the agony!"

Amber made a face that communicated,  _ are you serious?  _ The Arc quickly picked up on her gesture and adjusted himself.

"I apologize for my disruptive behavior," Alex said, "I should wait until I see the girl he chooses to see if she is deserving of such a wonderful wedding."

Amber chuckled at her old friend's response.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"We made it!" Jaune cheered triumphantly, "We located the food!"

"Wow! Look at all this!" Cinder said in bewilderment.

The food was displayed on long rows of tables and had very minimal people around it. This meant that they don't have to wait to get certain foods!

Jaune's eyes sparkled with anticipation as he stared at the platters and platters of food. Soon Jaune started to dig into the selection of food with gusto while Cinder took her time with the food, enjoying every bite.

"What are you two doing!" A shrill voice called out.

The duo turned around to see a white-haired girl with soft blue eyes that pronounced her displeasure.

"Eating?" Jaune said with his mouth stuffed shrimp.

"Talking to a brat?" Cinder commented.

"Do any of you have any decency and not be such pigs!" The girl asked annoyed.

"Oin-oink," Jaune replied with his mouth full causing Cinder to snicker. But this only caused the white-haired girl to be angrier.

"Do any of you know where you are?" The girl asked once more.

"In the presence of an annoying little brat," Cinder sneered annoyed that she was talking instead of eating. Her comment caused the girl's eyebrow to twitch.

"We're at the Schnee Manner," Jaune said after swallowing his food.

"Hmph," The girl scoffed, "It seems you're more aware than I thought."

"And it seems you can get more annoying than I thought was possible," Cinder scoffed back.

"How dare you speak to me like that?" The girl scolded, "I'll have you know that I am the heir of the Schnee Dust Company!"

Both Jaune and Cinder looked confused at the revelation. They both had similar thoughts going through their heads.

'What. Is this the girl that is going to run the company for the SCD?' Cinder questioned.

'Why would she bring that up? It's pretty clear we don't really enjoy her company,' Jaune thought to himself, 'Will that get her friends?'

"Well!?" The girl said obnoxiously waiting for a response.

"Well, what?" Jaune asked.

"Are you going to say anything?" The heir asked.

"That's pretty cool," Jaune said.

This caused the girl's eyes to twitch.

"That's all you have to say!" The girl screamed, "All you have to say is "Just cool!" Unbelievable!"

"Well," Jaune said with a contemplative tone, "You are pretty beautiful. And I am sure you're nice enough!"

This caused the girl's eyes to twitch but not in annoyance but in amazement.

Cinder quietly growled as she saw the girl's reaction and decided to act quickly.

"I do have one thing to say," Cinder paused, "I would rather be enjoying this food than talk to you. But, I am afraid I lost my appetite."

The amber-eyed girl started to walk away and grabbed Jaune's hand causing him to blush.

"Bye! It was nice talking to you!" Jaune smiled as he was being taken away.

And with that, the two mischievous friends wandered off leaving the girl in white alone in a crowded room.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

As Jaune and Cinder explored the mansion, Amber leaned on the railings of a balcony, where she could see the stars float along with the shattered moon and its bright fragments.

She could feel the cold breeze grace her skin.

And she could remember.

She could remember the war. The Great Faunus Revolution. Or also known as a Massacre. Calling it a war would suggest that both sides had a chance at winning. When in fact, the Faunus side was doomed from the very start.

She remembered the sky filled with ash and the stench of burning bodies. It was awful.

"Amber."

And like that she was snapped back to reality. Back to this grand white mansion filled with people who are doing this for their own public image.

The brown-eyed woman then looked at the tall buff blond Arc calling her name.

"Yes, Alex?" Amber said.

"Would you like some of this bacon covered shrimp?" Alex inquired excitingly, "It's delicious!"

Amber laughed but then sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Is everything ok, Madam Amber?" The eldest Arc asked concerned.

"Yes, everything's fine," Amber replied, "It's just that...that massacre."

Alex nodded in understanding. "There was nothing we could do," Armstrong reasoned, "We would've only made things worse."

"I know," Amber said regretfully, "But it doesn't mean that I shouldn't just forget about it just because I wasn't apart of it."

"You were there weren't you?" Alex asked suddenly.

Amber's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"You never go to these charity events. You would always be on a mission assigned by Ozpin," Alex explained, "It could be because you genuinely have a good heart, which you do. But I think you came to support this event's cause because you saw what happened at Atlas."

Amber then looked down. "Yes, I did," Amber whispered.

"Why would you go there? Ozpin told all Huntsmen and Huntresses from Vale to not be involved with the conflicts within Atlas," Alex explained.

Amber stood there silent. Until she looked up at Alex. "Because I thought I could help end all of it before that damn order."

The Arc listened intently as she explained herself.

"Before Order 3066, Ozpin brought me up to his tower and told me that Atlas was about to sign it and put it into action."

* * *

**/×/**

* * *

"We can't let them do that!" The tan-skinned woman protested.

"Amber calm down," A blond woman with glasses suggested.

"I'm sorry Amber," A white-haired man said solemnly, "It's too late. despite James' best efforts, Bradley has made his decision. If we interfere, we prolong the war."

Amber gritted her teeth. "We can't let Salem have this!" Amber shouted, "Bradley must've known what was at stake! He must've known about her pla-"

"He knows," Ozpin stated, "He is aware of the consequences, that is why is passing this order."

"He's passing a permission slip to commit genocide to almost a whole entire population!" Amber cried.

" **Listen** ."

Amber stopped her cries as Ozpin gained an empathetic look.

"I understand your concerns," Ozpin said, "But the moment we try to stop this,  _ she  _ will know the amount of information that our side knows. That means she will change her tactics. She will become unpredictable."

Amber clenched her fists.

"We have to take the bait in order to win," Ozpin explained, "There is no other way."

Amber stormed out of the room and entered the elevator.

'I won't let it happen,' Amber promised herself.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"So, that's when you decided to go to the frontlines and attempt to stop it," Alex said.

Amber nodded. "But I was too late," Amber added, "I saw the damage caused, the lives lost, and I could only be stunned at it."

"I see," Alex sighed, "I understand what you're feeling. I can't say I have experienced them, but I could say they are understandable."

"No," Amber shivered, "There was something else."

"Something else?" Armstrong asked.

"As I stood on the battlefield for a war long over," Amber explained, "I had the most unpleasant feeling. It was like I was being watched."

"I don't know," Amber answered, "But I am positive Salem's behind it."

"Hm," Alex hummed in a thoughtful manner, "Did you see any Grimm that day?"

"No, I didn-" Just then Amber realized what Alex was inferring.

Creatures of Grimm usually show up in the presence of negative feelings. And there is nothing but negative feelings on the battlefield. But yet none showed up on that day.

Why?

Were there more than just Salem?

"Why are two outside being so secretive?"

Both of them turned around and saw a mature woman with white-hair and blue-eyes.

"Mrs. Schnee!" Alex quickly stood up straight and faced her.

"Stop being so formal Alex," The woman laughed, "Just simply call me Willow. "

Amber observed the Schnee and how elegant she looked. She wore a light-blue dress that was outlined by white.

"Hello," Amber greeted, "My name is Amber. It's a pleasure to meet the person who organized all of this."

"Oh, it's truly nothing," Willow refuted, "I am just doing what is right."

"Well, I see this as a great opportunity to help truly mend the relationship between Faunus and humans alike," Amber smiled.

"I hope it is," Willow nodded, "Especially with all of this business about the war. It's quite terrible."

"It is a lot of work to do even for a whole generation," Alex added.

Amber nodded at the statement. "Well, let's hope the next generation could do that."

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"Wait! Cinder!" Jaune cried out, "This is where the bedrooms are located! We shouldn't be here!"

"Why do you think that?" Cinder asked with an innocent smile.

"Well, no one else is here," Jaune answered, "So that must mean we aren't supposed to be here either!"

Cinder then giggled. "You're so silly," Cinder smiled, "How can you be my knight if you can't take risks?"

"How can you be my queen if you can't think straight?" Jaune mumbled hoping for Cinder to not hear it.

She did.

"Are you questioning your Queen's authority," Cinder smirked.

"What! N-No! It's not like that!" Jaune stammered, "I d-didn't mean it like that!"

Cinder then giggled again. "You need to stop taking things so seriously!" Cinder said as she continued walking further into the corridor. "And besides, if we get caught we could just say we were trying to find a bathroom."

"I don't think that'll work," A voice chimed in.

Both Jaune and Cinder look to see the girl in white once more.

Cinder rolled her eyes. "What do you want?" Cinder asked annoyed.

"I simply want to make sure you two aren't causing any trouble," The girl responded.

"Well, you can stop now," Cinder commanded.

"Make me," The girl gritted her teeth.

"Oh, I will," Cinder growled

"Let's calm down!" Jaune said trying to break the tension. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here. Let's introduce ourselves, I'm Jaune! And this is my friend, Cinder!"

Cinder cringed at the use of the word "friend". But she tried to make it as subtle as possible. Luckily Jaune didn't see it, but the girl did.

"What's your name?" Jaune smiled.

The girl crossed her arms. "My name is Weiss Schnee, the future heir to the Schne-"

"The Schnee Dust Company," Cinder interrupted, "You already told us."

"Cool! We're friends now!" Jaune smiled.

"Barely," Weiss mumbled.

"What's your deal!" Cinder scolded, "You just keep on trying to get on our nerves!"

"I just need you to remind you two of my position," Weiss responded.

Cinder looked beyond annoyed. Until she got a mischievous look on her face. When Jaune saw it, he started to sweat.

'What the hell is she planning now?' Jaune asked himself.

"It doesn't matter," Cinder said, "I'm stronger than you anyway."

Weiss scoffed. "Oh, please. You haven't even seen me fight."

"You haven't seen me either," Cinder smirked, "How about this, we settle this over a friendly fight."

Jaune knew this meant trouble. But he knew Cinder and he also knew what she's capable of.

Weiss raised her eyebrow in immense interest. She put on a contemplative look. "What's the catch?" Weiss asked.

"No, catch. It's just a friendly dual," Cinder assured mischievously, "All you have to do is fight me and the winner gets the knowledge of knowing that they were better."

"Alright deal."

Soon both girls and Jaune were in the vast backyard of the mansion.

Weiss had a rapier ready while Cinder only had a pair of red gloves with golden patterns by her side.

"Are you ready, brat?" Cinder asked as she put on her gloves delicately.

"I'm more than ready," Weiss replied raising her rapier.

Weiss shot a grand display of fire dust toward Cinder. A single fast stream of fire to lunge toward the amber-eyed girl.

Cinder simply smirked as she raised her hand toward the approaching danger.

** _*SNAP*_ **

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"So you have a child?" Willow asked Amber.

"Well, she's not necessarily my child," Amber explained, "She's adopted along with three other girls."

"How old are they?" Willow inquired

"The oldest one is 10, while the others are 9 years old," Amber smiled.

"Ah, I see. So did you bring the girls here with you?" Willow nodded.

"Well, I only brought one of them," Amber responded, "The other girls wanted to stay home."

"So, where is she?" Willow asked.

"Oh, she should be with Jaune," Amber answered.

"Oh, I didn't know Alex's son was here," Willow said.

"Yes, he is!" Alex exclaimed joyfully, "He is growing up to be a true man!"

Willow and Amber chuckled at Armstrong's enthusiasm.

"So where are they?" Willow asked.

But before Amber could answer, a huge gusto of fire was seen rising up from the windows causing everyone to look up.

Amber started to sigh. "Well, there's your answer. "

**/~/**

"Wha-" Weiss was dumbfounded by the amount of power displayed.

"Wasn't expecting that were you, brat?" Cinder smirked as she pulled on her gloves.

A vein popped out of Weiss's forehead. Cinder smiled as she snapped her fingers once more.

Weiss was then surrounded by flames.

"Hm, looks like the brat bit the dust," Cinder chuckled.

Suddenly, Weiss emerged from the flames and smoke. She then charged Cinder at a blinding speed.

Cinder raised her hand once more but before she could snap Weiss quickly shot some ice dust onto Cinder's right glove.

Cinder hissed in pain as she nearly dodges the rapier. She quickly retreated and noticed her frozen hand. She tried to move her fingers but it was no use. The glove was completely frozen.

Cinder gritted her teeth as she delicately but quickly took the gloves off and stored it.

"I must admit," Cinder smirked, "You're actually  _ competent _ ."

Weiss returned the smirk. "It isn't that hard to figure out that that glove produces an ignition which you can manipulate into flames," Weiss explained with a smirk, "And without that glove, you're  _ useless _ ."

Jaune then proceeded to take a step back from where he was originally viewing the fight. 'Things are about to get hot,' Jaune thought.

" **What did you just call me?** " Cinder growled, " **I'm going to burn that smirk off.** "

Cinder then raised her other hand causing Weiss to back off. She snapped causing another huge wave of fire to come crashing down onto Weiss. Weiss was able to make an ice wall with the dust reserves in her rapier.

As fire spilled over the wall, Weiss took this small moment of time to reflect on her strategy.

'Her powers are powerful but extremely limited," The Schnee Heir observed, "It seems she can only produce fire and nothing el-"

** _*SNAP*_ **

But before she can properly collect her thoughts, a sword made from glass pierced through the ice wall and nearly missed Weiss.

Weiss' eyes widened as two fingers snapping was followed by another wave of flames crashing toward Weiss.

Once the ice wall was evaporated, an amber-eyed girl dual-wielding glass swords were revealed.

Weiss started to get seriously annoyed. "You have to be kidding me," Weiss grumbled as Cinder smiled coyly.

"Does daddy's girl forfeit?" Cinder mocked.

"Fat chance," Weiss then selected the lightning dust in her rapier and aimed it at Cinder. But before she could let off any shock, a glass arrow pierced the revolving chamber of dust in her weapon blocking its rotation cycle.

'What the?' Weiss asked herself in shock, 'Where did that come from?'

So, she looked up and saw Cinder holding a glass bow and arrow.

'How did she switch weapons so fast?' Weiss asked herself. That was until she realized the possibility of Cinder making the weapons on the spot. Then it all started to make sense. The weapons weren't just made from glass, they were made from dust also.

"Sorry not sorry," Cinder smiled mischievously as she set down her bow and arrow. She then raised her gloves once more. "I would ask for you to yield, but this is too good to pass."

Weiss wasn't done yet. She took out a water dust vial from her rapier and charged Cinder once more. Cinder was about to snap until she realized that Weiss was moving on Jaune's side.

Cinder's eyes widened. 'So, she figured out that I can't control my flames,' Cinder thought, 'I can't risk Jaune getting burnt to a crisp. I'll have to make a sword."

But before Cinder could put her decision into action, Weiss opened the vial and threw it on Cinder right as she snapped causing a small ignition. Which also caused a wave of water to pour on Cinder.

"Damn it!" Cinder cursed as she took the glass arrow that she had set down earlier and charged Weiss, who was also charging back.

"CINDER!"

"WEISS!"

"JAUNE! MY GLORIOUS SON!"

Oh, boy. This just gets better.

Weiss and Cinder freeze with their weapons at the other's neck.

"What on Remnant are you doing, Cinder?" The brown-haired woman asked causing Cinder to lower her weapon and face her guardian.

"I'm sorry A-Amber! I just wanted to prove how awesome I am," Cinder responded with pride.

"Your comments won't help you," Amber shook her head, "I thought I told you to stay out of trouble."

"And I told you trouble comes to us!" Cinder said.

Amber gained a smirk. "Maybe, I shouldn't let you hang out with Jaune anymo-"

"NO! Please don't. He didn't do anything wrong!" Cinder pleaded, "I promise I'll be good!"

"How do I know that then?" Amber asked.

"How about a deal! For every wrong I do, I..." Cinder struggled to find a compromise.

"You'll spend one less hour with Jaune?" Amber suggested.

Cinder froze and started to grumble under her breath. "Does it have to be an hour? Maybe ten minutes?" Cinder reasoned.

Amber shook her head.

"Fine," Cinder huffed in defeat.

"And you young lady!" The elder Schnee pointed at Weiss, "You know better than to fight your guests!"

"But she started it!" Weiss protested.

"That still doesn't make it any better," Willow reasoned, "You should know better."

Weiss crossed her arms and turned away from Cinder. She felt a tapping on her shoulder, causing her to turn around.

She saw Cinder with her hand out. "Sorry, about that," Cinder apologized, "I went too far."

Weiss looked at the amber-eyed girl's hands and then at the girl herself.

As far as Weiss, she could tell that she was genuine.

Weiss sighed once more and shook the hands of her future-rival and friend.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"So what happened next?" Blake asked showing small signs of interest.

"Well," Jaune then started to yawn as it was apparent that he was tired from telling his perspective on how he met Weiss. "Can we finish this later? I need my beauty sleep."

Blake nodded, "I really appreciate you talking to me."

"Oh, it isn't a problem," Jaune reassured, "And besides I love talking to beautiful girls."

Blake then started to blush as she quickly rose up from her seat to leave the empty library. But in her haste, a small little black book dropped from her pocket. The book just so happened to land right in front of Jaune.

Blake started to sweat as the blond boy reached down and picked it up with his metal arm. He looked at it and immediately started to blush along with the black-haired girl.

"Wow, I didn't know you were into this kind of thing," Jaune scratched the back of his head with his blushing cheeks still visible. "It's an interesting read."

"Y-You've read it?" Blake asked nervously.

Jaune then started chuckling. "Yeah, Cinder told me it was the most well known Alchemical research papers in Remnant," Jaune explained, "She also told me that it had one of the hardest codes to ever grace Remnant. It causes many to go bright red from how difficult it was to understand. In a way, she was right."

Blake covered her mouth and Jaune couldn't tell if she was shocked or hiding her laughter.

Jaune then heard small hints of smirking and giggling coming from Blake.

Jaune smiled at Blake, in which she smiled back with a blush still apparent.

"That's quite an entertaining story," Blake smiled as she took the book from Jaune's right arm. Her fingers graced his which sent a chill to go up to her spine.

It also caused her bow to twitch ever so slightly.

'Huh, it's pretty weird how that bow can just rest on her head like that,' Jaune humored himself.

"It was nice talking to you again, Jaune," Blake smiled as she began to leave the library.

"See ya later, alligator," Jaune said causing Blake to smile even more vibrantly.

And soon it was Jaune that was left in the library by himself.

'She's pretty cool,' Jaune thought to himself, 'Why was I here again? Oh! That's right a book!'

As he continued his search for the Alchemical book he desired, he remembered Ozpin sending him a random message.

It said the following:  _ "There is a book that might interest you. It is entitled: The Use of Alkahestory. I feel it may be vital to your journey as a hunter." _

What the hell is Ozpin talking about? For one of the most well-known headmasters of all time, it is pretty difficult to know what the heck he was talking about.

He continued to look at the top and bottom until he found the book he wanted to find.

Jaune then slid the book out of its confines and sat at a nearby table to read it.

As Jaune read the book, one thing was apparent to him. The book was very old and seemed easy to rip the pages with minimal force.

Another thing that stuck out to him was that it was easy to read. In other words, the book was already translated from its meticulous language of codes and references into something actually cohesive comprehensive.

Jaune continued to read the book and was quite invested in the book. It told of how Alkahestory was a derivative form of Alchemy. It could enhance aura and even heal wounds.

But what really stood out to him, was the weird obsession with immortality and power. The book constantly mentions the two aspects as if they were the only important things in life.

Who wrote this book?

Jaune turned to the author's credit page and saw a name, or what looked like one. It was so old the name was worn out.

** _S/~\lǝ^^_ **

Who is that?

Actually, a more appropriate question is why the hell is this book in this library?

These questions raced through his head as Jaune slid the book back into its place on the bookshelf.

'Why the hell is Ozpin so cryptic?' Jaune asked himself.

He exited through the library doors but was then tackled to the ground.

He didn't bother looking down to see who assaulted him.

"Neo," Jaune groaned as the multi-colored girl squeezed him like a teddy-bear. "It's about the ice-cream, isn't it?"

Neo then looked up at him and nodded. Jaune sighed as he picked up Neo and lifted her on his back. Causing her to squirm in delight.

If it wasn't obvious enough, Neo likes Jaune. No, she loves him. He would usually take care of her if her sisters weren't around to do so. In fact, she would  _ almost _ take him over her sisters. Emphasis on almost.

"Well, let's go," Jaune said as he charged out the library door with Neo raising her fist in the air in triumph.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"It's pretty convenient that the vending machines sell ice cream here," Jaune said in awe.

Neo nodded in agreement.

Neo and Jaune were currently at the huge open court of Beacon. They were sitting on the edge of the water fountain.

"So? Do you like Beacon so far?" Jaune asked.

Neo nodded enthusiastically as she continued to dig into her vanilla-bean ice cream. Neo then brought out her scroll to show Jaune.

" _ Do you like it here, too? _ " The scroll displayed.

Jaune smiled. "Of course I do. I have always heard people say, Beacon is a great school and so far those statements seem to be true," Jaune said, "And I get to be with plenty of beautiful ladies including you Neo!"

Jaune waited for Neo's response. But instead, he got a blushing Neo trying to write an appropriate response to Jaune's statement.

She rapidly wrote and deleted words and sentences for a measured response.

To put it simply, she was flustered.

Jaune chuckled as he reached out his hand and rested it on the scroll screen causing the bright-girl to stop typing.

"Sorry about that," Jaune smiled, "I just love to see how adorable you get when you're flustered."

Neo's face turned into a pout as she grabbed Jaune's ice cream and swallowed it all.

"Hey! What's that for," Jaune exclaimed shocked, "You could get a brain freeze!"

Just then a sharp pain jolted through Neo's head causing her to grab it.

Jaune started chuckling. He soon stopped chuckling and started laughing when Neo started hitting him with small punches into his chest.

He then wrapped his arms around Neo and pulled close to him causing her to cease her assault on the blond dork.

Neo's head still hurts but she wouldn't miss this for the world. So, she snuggled into his chest causing Jaune to blush at how cute she was.

"Hey, Neo," Jaune said grabbing the ice cream loving girls' attention.

"We should probably get back," Jaune said.

Jaune's suggestion caused Neo to groan and snuggle further into his chest.

"Neo."

Jaune could feel her shaking her head against him.

"Neo."

Neo hugged even tighter.

"Neo, I'll tell Cinder to stop giving you ice cream."

Neo groaned once more as she finally let go of Jaune.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"That was really fun," Jaune said as he and Neo walked back to their dorms "We should do this again sometime."

Neo nodded in agreement as she and Jaune arrived back to their dorms.

"Well see ya tomorrow!" Jaune said.

Neo waved goodbye as she entered her team's dorm room.

When she was in the comfort of her dorm, she smiled wide and jumped on her bed in triumph. Causing everyone in the CNEM dorm to wake up.

"I'm assuming it went well?" The raven-haired leader asked.

Neo nodded enthusiastically. As she landed on the bed with grace.

"Did you two get to second-base?" Marcy asked with a perverted smile causing Emerald to throw a pillow at her.

"She's farther than you," Emerald remarked.

"Is that a challenge?" Marcy smirked.

"Damn right it is," Emerald smirked back.

"Now girls," Cinder sighed, "We better get some sleep. We have a field trip tomorrow."

All the girls groaned.

"Oh c'mon! We didn't get to the juicy details yet!" Marcy protested, "So, how big was his di-"

" **Marcy** ," Cinder glared, " **Go to sleep please.** "

Marcy gulped. "Yeah! Sure thing!" Marcy said as she quickly tucked herself into her bed.

Neo and Emerald started to laugh at her causing the grey-haired girl to blush in embarrassment.

" **You two, too** ," Cinder commanded, " **Don't make me ask twice** ."

And with that, the other two girls hastily got in bed and closed their eyes hoping that it would erase a scary Cinder from their minds.

It didn't work.

Cinder smiled triumphantly as she reached up to the light switch and turned off the bright lights. 

They would need the rest for tomorrow, they were going to Forever Fall Forest.

* * *

**To be continued...**


	8. Variation

Weiss didn't know what happened. It was all perfect. It was going so well. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Her and Jaune's calculations and measurements were supposed to be right. They were supposed to bring back Willow in one piece.

But.

But all she saw were shadowy hands that reached from the human transmutation circle and a blinding light followed soon after.

She was knocked out from the shock but when she woke up...

She saw Jaune.

Jaune without his arm. It was as if someone ripped it clean off his torso. His sleeve was still attached but was utterly soaked in a metallic smelling liquid.

Jaune was crying in pain. Be clenched his arm to stop the blood from pouring out. But it kept on leaking onto the wooden floorboards underneath him.

What was Weiss supposed to do? She was only thirteen for crying out loud. 

Her mother would know what to do.

Wait. That's right! Jaune and Weiss did the transmutation! If it was done correctly that means her mother was alive again! She would know what to do!

"Mother! Mother! Please help Jaune," Weiss cried in panic, "Mo-"

She was interrupted by herself as she gasped at what she saw. A mass of a creature. It looked human. But its bones were visible through the coal-like skin. The creature stared at Weiss and extended one of its limbs toward Weiss causing her to take a staggering step back.

"Jaune..." Weiss whimpered as she got closer to Jaune. She ripped a piece of cloth from her outfit and put pressure on Jaune's bleeding wound. "I'm so sorry," She cried.

She could hear a ringing echo through her head.

" _ Weiss _ ."

She looked at where her name was being called. She saw the creature's mouth move.

"_Why didn't you save me?_ _Can't the little heiress save her own mother?_" The creature whispered causing Weiss to shake in fear."_Weiss_."

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"Weiss."

The Schnee heiress jolted up from her slumber causing her head to bump into whatever woke her up.

As she collected herself, she realized she headbutted Ruby, who was rubbing her head in pain.

"Sorry about that," Weiss apologized, "It was just a bad dream."

"No, I'm sorry for startling you," Ruby reassured, "Are you okay Weiss? You've been having these  _ bad dreams  _ a lot recently."

"Sorry," Weiss apologized once more, "It is just me sleeping late is all."

"Weiss," Ruby said, "If you want to talk about it you have your team."

Weiss smiled at her leader and partner's will to help. "Thanks, Ruby," Weiss thanked.

"No problem!" Ruby cheerfully said, "But now we need to wake the team up!"

Ruby smiled as she raised her whistle to her mouth. But before she could produce an ear-piercing noise she loved so much, a certain bow wearing girl managed to snatch the whistle.

"Hey!" Ruby pouted.

"Please don't," Blake pleaded, "I have really sensitive hearing."

"Oh sorry," Ruby apologized.

"It's fine," Blake sighed, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Maybe, you shouldn't have talked with Jaune so long," The tired blond brawler joked as she rose up from her bed.

A red-hue graced over Blake's cheeks. "I a-assure you it was about n-nothing," Blake assured unconvincingly.

Ruby and Weiss looked at her suspiciously. 'Why was she with Jaune last night?' They both thought.

"Boy! I'm starving!" Yang shouted, "Let's get some grub!"

Both Ruby and Weiss were taken out of their contemplative trance by the boisterous blond girl.

"Alright, team! Let's go-to breakfast!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss still wasn't quite ready to move on from the subject of Blake being with Jaune, but she went with the turn of events.

"Hold on Ruby," Blake said in a calm manner, "We need to get ready first."

"Oh! Sorry," Ruby smiled with a small tinge of embarrassment lacing it. 

"Don't worry about it, sis!" Yang said as she locked Ruby up into a headlock. "Now, let's get ready!"

"Yang! Cut it out!" Ruby puffed her cheeks as she escaped her sister's death grip.

Weiss chuckled at her teammate's behavior. But she was still thinking of Jaune. Especially after that dream.

It keeps haunting her. Her mother. Jaune's arm.

She shook it off the best she could and resumed her day.

'I wonder where Jaune is this morning,' Weiss thought to herself.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"Sweet Oum, where the hell is Cinder!?" A grey-haired girl asked herself in frustration as she walked around the campus of Beacon. She was now entering the arenas for training and sparring.

"She tells me to sleep early and crap for today and she just ditches us!" Marcy exclaimed, "That is so typical of her!"

Marcy knew that Cinder was a hard worker and even risks her own health to improve herself.

But C'mon! She keeps on doing this crap! Ditching her teammates and sneaking out. It is so annoying!

But Cinder's determination could be interpreted as a good thing. So, it isn't too much of a big deal.

Yet.

What Marcy was concerned about was that she needed to find her sister/team leader before the bullheads leave without them to The Forever Fall Forest.

And she wasn't going to miss her chance to be absent for the majority of school today. Especially if her unfinished paper for Mr. Port's class was due today.

Marcy walked around the massive training area until she saw a familiar blond boy and black-haired girl in an arena sparring.

"There she is! Score!" Marcy cheered in relief, "Sweet, Jaune's here too! Double-score!"

But as she got closer to the arena area of Jaune and Cinder, she saw a familiar red-haired champion in the seats of the coliseum, watching the fight intensely.

"Hey! Pyrrha!" Marcy smiled as she got comfortable next to the green-eyed girl.

Pyrrha was stunned by Marcy's sudden arrival but still wore a smile. "Hello, Marcy!" Pyrrha greeted back.

"What'cha doin'?" Marcy asked, "Watching your crush fight your rival?"

Pyrrha blushed heavily. "Excuse me!" Pyrrha exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Haha! It's just a joke," Marcy smirked, "Loosen up!"

Pyrrha tried to look amused but in reality, she was very nervous that her crush on the blond Alchemist, was more apparent than she originally thought it was.

But soon both girls were pulled out of their conversation by Jaune and Cinder's fight.

The two were currently on different sides of the arena, trying to get the upper hand on the other.

Jaune dodged another glass arrow that was fired by Cinder.

He raised his right hand to his left. But before he could perform any Alchemy,

** _SNAP_ **

A gusto of fire rushed toward him causing  _ FullMetal _ to evade his attempts of creating a weapon.

Cinder saw her opportunity and used it to her fullest advantage. She snapped her fingers to form dual glass swords and creating a barrage of fire.

As Jaune dodged another grand wave of flames, the Ashen-haired teen charged the blond boy. She raised her swords to strike him down.

Jaune raised his right metal arm and managed to block the swords from knocking him on his back.

Soon, both metal and glass clashed. Steel and fire. Dense genius and female pyromaniac stared at each other. Amber eyes saw Sapphire eyes and vice versa.

"Wow, look at them go," Marcy whistled.

"Yes, it seems both are quite familiar with the others techniques and strategies," Pyrrha observed.

"Yeah, makes sense," Marcy said, "They were both friends since they were seven-years-old."

"So they're close," Pyrrha stated with an oddly concerned voice.

"Yep!" Marcy chirped, "They're as close to each other as peas and apples!"

"Don't you mean peas and carrots?" Pyrrha asked.

"No, it's peas and apples right?" Marcy said without a shred of doubt.

"Uhh, sure," Pyrrha smiled.

But Pyrrha started thinking, 'How many friends that Jaune has that were female?' She's been thinking along these lines since last night.

* * *

**/×/**

* * *

Jaune unlocked his dorm's door and tried to be as discreet as possible. He didn't want to wake any of his teammates up.

He didn't want any of them to worry where he's been. Nora likes to male dramatic stories of where Jaune was.

For example, the hyperactive girl told an hour and a half story of how Jaune steal back some sort of stone from an evil presence. The stone would apparently save all of mankind from destruction. She also listed descriptions of girls that sounded eerily similar to ones he knows that helped him along the path. And the cherry on top was that she made it into a chapter format, like some fanfiction writer.

When in reality, he was just trying to get his scroll back from Emerald.

He didn't want to hear another story like that just to say he spent a lot of time studying and eating ice-cream with a particular colorful-girl.

Jaune delicately closed the door behind him and tip-toed to his bed quietly and delicately.

"Where were you?"

Jaune subtly sighed that he got caught sneaking around.

"Sorry, Pyrrha. Just went to the library," Jaune smiled.

"Jaune, you need to stop with your unannounced midnight crusades," Pyrrha sighed as Jaune got into bed.

"I'll tell you next time," Jaune assured, "But I'm really tired right now. Let's get some sleep."

Pyrrha nodded as the blond leader of Team JNPR placed his scroll on a nearby desk and entered his bed.

But before the blond boy could rest his eyes, he got a message on his scroll.

Jaune sighed as he looked over to his scroll and grabbed it.

The scroll displayed a message from a contact entitled C. It read: " _ Hey Jaune! You awake? I have 7 minutes and 34 seconds to talk!" _

Jaune chuckled as he typed out a response. It said: " _ No, I'm not. I'm currently in a sleep coma _ ."

" _ Haha, very funny, _ " C sarcastically replied.

_ "So, what's new with you?" _ Jaune inquired.

" _ Nothing much. Winter has been mainly ordering me to practice my drills, _ " C explained, "How about you?"

" _ I'm not doing much either. Beacon has been pretty tamed so far for the most part." _

" _ I still can't believe you decided to go to Beacon instead of Atlas!" _

_ "Sorry to disappoint. But I want to become a Hunter. Not a Specialist." _

_ "You know it's not too late to switch schools and career paths right?" _

_ "I could say the same for you." _

_ "Well, I'm not going to switch." _

_ "Neither am I." _

* * *

**/-/**

* * *

A blue-beret wearing girl with dark skin and navy-blue hair shook her head. Her light blue-eyes continued to ogle at her screen.

The screen illuminated an odd golden symbol on her forehead, which was a circle surrounded by four smaller circles.

Her name was Ciel Soliel. She goes to Atlas Academy and is the apprentice of Winter Schnee.

She was currently laying on her bed and texting Jaune Edward Arc. The boy that helped her get this far. The boy she wanted to thank every day for being there for her.

She sighed as she typed on her scroll once more.

_ "Well, Atlas would gladly accept you if you do choose to switch over." _

Ciel's Blond Knight, the name of Jaune in the dark-skinned girl's contact list, started to type back.

_ "Beacon also has its arms wide open for you. Well, more of my arms wide open for a _ hug."

This caused Ciel to  _ almost  _ reconsider her academy of choice. Her face was flushed with excitement and eagerness to be with Jaune. But she shook off those irrational thoughts.

_ "It's a no-deal Arc," _ She typed out.

_ "Please?" _ Jaune pleaded.

* * *

**/-/**

* * *

There was a long pause causing Jaune to lean toward the screen of his scroll.

_ "No." _

Jaune chuckled at her response.

_ "It was worth a shot." _

_ "Was it? Because you wasted 43 seconds on trying to move an immovable object." _

_ "Well, I guess I'm the unstoppable force then." _

Jaune could feel Ciel rolling her eyes at his comment.

_ "I got to go now. It was nice talking to you Jaune." _

_ "Alright night! Sweat dreams!" _

_ "Sweat dreams?" _

_ "Oof, I ment _ sweet dreams.  _ Auto-correct _ ."

_ "Sure you did." _

_ "I DID!" _

"Anyways...Goodnight  _ Jaune, it was nice talking to you. =D _ "

Jaune was honestly surprised by the emoticon sent by Ciel. He never thought of her as a user of that feature.

"Oh well," Jaune yawned.

He needed to sleep.

* * *

**/-/**

* * *

Ciel's palms started sweating. As she glared at the emoticon she sent the blond knight.

She then grabbed a pillow off her bed and screamed into it.

"WHY DID I SEND THAT!"

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

Pyrrha knew she shouldn't be snooping in her partner's personal life, but she can't help it.

Jaune's appeal to other girls is honestly frightening. The worst part is that 64% of Beacon's students are female.

She doesn't want some girl to just take Jaune and use him! If she were with Jaune, she would make sure that he does his homework, which he does already, and force him out of harm's way.

Wait.

With Jaune?

Is it possible? Can she do it? A part of Pyrrha wanted to confess to him. While another part knew that her confession could be an unorthodox way of a confession and a potential way to ruin their friendship.

What should she do?

"Hello? Remnant to Pyrrha," Marcy waved her hand in front of Pyrrha's face.

"Yes! What! Who! Where!?" Pyrrha shouted as her thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Um, you ok?" Marcy smirked mischievously, "Do you have a fever? Your face is pretty red."

Pyrrha's cheeks were graced with a red hue as she looked away from Marcy. Pyrrha took a deep breath and faced Marcy once more.

"You like Jaune right?" Pyrrha asked.

Marcy's face lit up. "M-Me! W-W-Well m-maybe! Yes! N-No?" She stammered, "Why? Did E-Emerald put you u-up to this?"

Pyrrha chuckled. She then assured the grey-haired teen that she was just curious.

But this proved one fact, Pyrrha had more competition than she originally thought.

Back in the arena, the dork and the femme fatale continued to stand their ground.

"Ready to give up, Jaune?" Cinder smirked as she pressed her blades into his metal arm.

"Not yet," Jaune smirked back.

The blond boy then pushed his arm against the swords causing Cinder to momentarily lose balance.

Jaune cheered internally as he clapped his hands together and grabbed one of the glass swords. 

A blinding blue light filled Cinder's eyes, she then took a shot in the dark and attempted to swing her blade at Jaune.

** _Slice_ **

Cinder heard something made from metal hitting the floor.

** _Swish_ **

She heard Jaune yelp a little right after she had swung.

** _Swing_ **

She felt herself slicing through some sort of fabric. As the light started to fade, clarity once again graced Cinder's eyes as she quickly observed what was occurring in front of her.

Jaune's armor was on the ground possibly as a result of cutting the leather strap connecting the pieces in her blind haze.

But that wasn't all.

There was a shirtless Jaune, smiling at her.

Marcy started drooling, while Pyrrha simply tried her best to not pay attention to the blond boy's chest.

It didn't work.

Without his armor or shirt, his masculine features were very apparent to Cinder. His six-pack was very impressive and defined. She could honestly go on and on about how hot Jaune is. She could talk about how the sweat dripped down from his face and onto his pecks.

...

...

...

What was she doing again?

"Um, Cinder? Are you okay?" Jaune asked concerned, "If you don't say anything, you forfeit."

She was snapped back to reality as a sight that anyone has barely seen occurred. Cinder's face started to turn red.

"Shut up!" Cinder shouted as she charged Jaune with her single glass sword.

But as she once again attempted to swing, she tried to slice his left side, mainly because it wasn't made from metal and didn't have any protection.

She was planning Jaune would react to this causing him to dodge giving her distance as a result. Then she could burn him up.

Giving her first victory against Jaune.

Cinder smiled at the thought.

But Jaune did something unpredictable. He didn't dodge. He stood there and raised his left hand toward the blade.

Cinder realized this and tried to pull back her blade to avoid cutting through his aura and arm. But it wasn't enough.

Her blade made contact with Jaune's arm.

** _Clink_ **

"What?" Cinder was stunned.

She was extremely confused. She could've cut off Jaune's arm but it didn't even pierce it. It was almost like it was covered in some type of clear stone or glass...

Unfortunately for Cinder, Jaune took advantage of her confusion by leading his hands together and producing a loud distinct clap.

Cinder's eyes widened as she recognized her hesitance and position.

"I yield," Cinder gritted her teeth.

Pyrrha looked confused. While Marcy smirked.

"That's so typical of her," Marcy commented.

"I don't understand why did she yield? The fight wasn't over yet," Pyrrha inquired.

"Well, one thing you should know about the Jaune and Cinder is that they treat a fight like a..." Marcy hummed in contemplation.

"Like an illusion?"

Both the grey-haired girl and red-haired champion looked behind them to see a dark-skinned girl with green hair walking toward them.

"Thanks, Em," Marcy thanked, "Why are you here?"

"I came because you were taking too long to find Cinder," Emerald explained as she took a seat next to her partner "And I also wanted to watch Cinder's fight but it looks like I just missed-"

Emerald's eyes then saw the glorious display of Jaune's shirtless torso. Her face suddenly gotten extremely red.

"Like what you see?" Marcy teased.

"Uhh," Emerald wasn't paying attention to anyone else except Jaune. She pulled her right arm over her chest and it was apparent that she was starting to take deep long breaths to calm herself.

'Damn this girl's desperate,' Marcy smirked and then shrugged her shoulders, 'Eh, I'm not much better.'

"ANYWAYS!" Marcy shouted, getting the attention of both Emerald and Pyrrha back, "They try to set each other up for failure by giving the illusion of an advantage that leads the opponent to think they have. Jaune was able to expose his left arm causing Cinder to think she had the win. But he had a glass shield for his left arm that he made from Cinder's sword. So when Cinder struck and hesitated..."

"She realized she lost," Pyrrha finished Marcy's thought.

"Yup! She's just like that, a perfectionist," Marcy smiled, "If something isn't right, she starts over."

"Wow, Marcy," Pyrrha said impressed, "I never took you as so observational during a fight."

"Hey," Marcy smirked once more, "Just because I don't pay attention doesn't mean I slack around. You could ask Em here all about how cool I am."

"Yeah..." Emerald agreed mindlessly as she continuously stared at Jaune's muscles and physique that have been passed down the Arc line for generations.

A long and audible sigh was heard from the battlegrounds.

"Sweet Oum," Cinder sighed as she took a seat on the stone floor of the arena, "I lost again."

"Hey! You were really close this time!" Jaune encouraged as he approached Cinder, "And the fact you prevented me from performing Alchemy half the time was pretty cool!"

Cinder shook her head. "Even then, the match was still in your favor," Cinder refuted, "I used way too much of my aura to increase my speed to gain an advantage."

Jaune sighed as he then took a seat next to Cinder, who started blushing once more.

'He still doesn't have a shirt on!' Cinder thought in excitement.

"You need to look at the positives," Jaune said, "The only reason I won was because I was lucky. The fact that you were trying to get me to move in your favor with that swing into my left is really impressive."

Cinder started to look away still blushing. "Y-You're just saying that," 

The usually prideful girl stammered.

"Cinder, I mean it," Jaune assured, "You could honestly beat most of the students here. I am sure that you'll beat me and my luck will run out."

"Bu-"

Suddenly, Jaune pulled Cinder into his bare chest causing her to surprisingly squeak. She could feel the blood trickling from her nose.

"You'll beat me," Jaune said once more, "And it'll be great."

...

...

...

"Cinder?"

Jaune then pushed the girl away from his hug and saw Cinder with blood trailing from both nostrils of her nose.

She looked.

Well.

Out of it.

"Are you okay Cinder?" Jaune asked concerned.

'Oh, my sweet Oum! I finally touched his naked chest!' Cinder cheered in her mind clearly not paying attention to anything. 'It's so firm! It feels so good!'

"Cinder!"

Cinder's thoughts of a hot blond dork were interrupted by a hot blond dork.

"Yes?" Cinder asked.

"Do you need to go to the nurse's office? Your nose has been bleeding for a while," Jaune observed.

"I-I'm fine!" Cinder replied.

"I think it may be from the fight we had," Jaune reasoned, "It was getting pretty interesting."

"I guess that's one way to put it," Cinder said as she wiped the blood coming from her nose.

"Hey, you two!"

Soon both turned to the arena's viewing seats and saw Pyrrha alongside a waving-Marcy and a red-faced Emerald.

Jaune stood up. "We should probably get going."

"Yeah..." Cinder agreed.

So, both left the arena and decided to hit the showers.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

A brown and pink-haired girl hummed to herself as she swung her legs that hung over the bench she sat at.

She was told by Emerald to stay here until Em returns.

Neo sighed as she leaned back into the bench.

She was so bored. She was getting very antsy at this point.

What if they had left her?

What if they had forgotten about her?

But worse,

What if someone claimed Jaune while she was away?

"Hey Neo!" A bright familiar voice called out, a voice that brought so much warmth inside of her.

She looked over to see Jaune! She also her sisters and Pyrrha!

The five students walked toward where Neo sat. The mismatched eyed girl jumped up and ran toward the blond boy, who sighed for he knew what would come.

Soon the young Arc was taken to the ground by the enthusiastic Neo.

"Kept you waiting huh?" Jaune said breathlessly as Neo was pressed down on him.

Neo simply nodded and made a face that asked,  _ Where were you? _

Jaune chuckled as he ruffled Neo's hair. "I was training with Cinder," Jaune responded.

Neo silently 'awwed' in understanding.

"Neo, you should have been there," Marcy continued, "I saw Jaune get his shirt sliced off by Cin-"

"**Marcy. If you finish that sentence,**" Cinder growled, "**I am not going to be creative, I'll just burn you** **to a crisp**."

Marcy turned considerably paler after that threat. "Y-Yeah! Y-You got it!"

Emerald and Pyrrha blushed at the memory of Jaune being shirtless. While Neo, on the other hand, gained a look of jealousy.

'No fair! I wanted to see Jaune's bare chest!' Neo pouted internally. Her mind then illustrated the image of Jaune's bare chest which caused her to blush.

"Um, Neo?" Neo looked down to only realize she was still on Jaune. "Is it too much to ask for you to get off of me?" Jaune asked.

Neo's face turned even redder as she realized she was still on top of Jaune.

A small part of her wanted to stay on Jaune and force him to carry her to the bullheads. But she knew she should get off of him so she did so with a sigh.

Jaune got back up on his feet and dusted himself off. "Welp! Let's go!" Jaune said as he walked forward leading the girls.

Neo began to walk behind but a certain amber-eyed girl crept up behind her.

"Remember, if you get him," Cinder said in a teasing whisper, "You share~"

Neo sighed and nodded in acknowledgment at their little  _ agreement _ .

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"Weiss, I'm sure Jaune will be here on time," A bow-wearing girl assured.

"I am not so sure," The Schnee Heiress paced back and forth, "He never takes this long to get to places. He gets here 20 minutes prior!"

Currently, Team RWBY and the NR of Team JNPR were waiting near the bullheads for JP of JNPR and CNEM. There were 5 minutes left until the bullheads started boarding.

Weiss was freaking out over her "blond knight" not being there with her.

"I'm sure my fearless leader will be here soon!" The cheerful Nora exclaimed.

"Nora," Ren said catching the orange-haired girl's attention, "Inside voices please."

"Oh sorry, Renny!" Nora said even louder.

"Jeez, Weiss," Yang sighed, "I am sure your boyfriend will get here."

"B-Boyfriend!" Weiss blushed, "Don't be ridiculous!"

"So, he's single?" Yang grinned.

"As far as I k-know," Weiss answered.

"Sweet, I could take the cutie all for myself!" Yang cheered.

"Now! H-Hold on!" Weiss exclaimed, "That doesn't mean you should date him!"

"Why not?" Yang teased, "I thought he was single?"

"He..."

Weiss had nothing to say for she was in a corner. If only some sort of deus ex machina could come and save her.

"Hey, Weiss!" The white-haired girl turned to see Jaune along with Pyrrha and CNEM walking toward them

'Oh thank Oum,' Weiss thought.

"Sorry, for being late!" Jaune apologized.

"Jaune," Pyrrha nudged Jaune slightly, "You are aware that we are on time right?"

"Oh," Jaune said, "Well, sorry for not being early!"

This caused everyone to chuckle at the blond dork.

"Did I say something?" Jaune asked confused.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

Soon, the three teams boarded the bullhead along with the other teams. The trip was led by Miss Goodwitch. 

Jaune was extremely enthralled to go to the Forever Fall Forest. He had heard that it was beautiful and quite a romantic location. 

Jaune isn't usually one for romance. He didn't get romantic situations and whenever he watched a Rom-Com, it usually flies over his head.

Jaune started to groan as he felt his stomach churn.

Motion-sickness.

What a fantastic condition to have as a huntsman.

Jaune rubbed his eyes as he attempted to keep his sanity.

"What's wrong loverboy?" A boisterous voice called out to the left of him.

"Yang, I don't think he's feeling very well," Another higher-pitched voice said.

Jaune looked to the origin of the voice and saw a blond brawler smirking at him and a girl with a rose cape next to her.

"Loverboy?" Jaune sighed.

"Yep!" Yang smiled, "But I think I am going to call you vomit boy soon."

"Yang, motion sickness isn't a joke!" Ruby pouted.

Jaune smiled. "Thank you, Ru-"

Yang then started laughing loudly. Then she realized she was the only one laughing. "Oh, I thought you were joking, Ruby."

"Haha," Jaune said with an unenthusiastic tone.

"Lighten up!" Yang said as she playfully punched his right arm. But soon regretted it after striking his metal arm. "Good Oum! What the hell is that arm made of?"

"Oh, it's automail," Jaune responded.

"Auto-tail?"

"No, auto-mail."

"Auto-hale?"

"I'm just gonna stop talking to you," Jaune chuckled causing Yang to chuckle too.

"IT'S AUTO-MAIL!" Ruby squealed.

Jaune nodded with a smile.

"But seriously, what is it?" Yang asked being left out of the loop.

"It's pretty much a prosthetic that's made out of metal and acts just like the real thing!" Jaune explained as he raised his metal arm.

"It's also a modifiable limb that can shoot bullets, making things go KABOOM! and look heckin' sweet!" Ruby explained even more enthusiastically.

"Wow. That's pretty cool!" Yang smiled, "But Jaune, why didn't you modify your arm?"

"Oh, I think it would be way too flashy," Jaune responded, "And besides, Weiss made it so I couldn't just return it."

"Wait, Weiss made that!" Ruby screamed with sparkles in her eyes. "I have the best partner ever!"

"Wow, I didn't know she could do that," Yang said impressed.

"Well, it wasn't easy, according to her," Jaune said, "She spent days and nights studying the process of making an automail prosthetic of the highest quality."

"Wow, it paid off," Yang commented.

"Can I make modifications to it?" Ruby asked eagerly.

"I don't know," Jaune said in a contemplative manner, "You should probably ask Weiss before you-"

"She has my permission."

The trio looked over to see Weiss walking over to them and taking a seat next to Jaune's right side.

"Really Weiss?" Ruby asked with sparkles in her eyes, "You really mean it?"

"Yes, I do mean it," Weiss confirmed, "And besides, I want to make modifications on it too."

"Yay! Partner bond-building!" Ruby cheered causing everyone to chuckle. She grabbed Weiss by the hand. "What are we waiting for!"

Weiss's eyes looked at Ruby's hand then looked at Jaune who was smirking. Her eyes widened. "Wait Ruby don't!"

And like that the rose and heiress were gone leaving an outline of smoke behind.

"My sister sure is something huh?" Yang commented.

"You could say that again," Jaune rubbed his nape.

There was a warm silence between the two blonds as they sat there.

"So, you excited?"

"For what?"

"Forever Fall Forest."

"Oh," Jaune paused as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Yeah, I guess."

"Wow. Really?" Yang said dumbfounded.

"Did I say something bad?" Jaune asked.

"No, that just surprised me," Yang clarified, "People are usually really hyped for this trip. So, it's weird seeing someone so calm about it."

"Well, it's just a forest? Right?" Jaune asked, "It's not a big deal."

"Hm. Maybe," Yang smiled.

"How about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you excited?"

"Yep! An excuse to miss school? Hell yeah, I'm excited!"

Jaune started chuckling. Suddenly, his motion sickness started to kick in and he was leaning over, groaning.

"You okay loverboy?" Yang asked concerned.

Suddenly, Jaune felt someone lean on his back pressing their assets oh him while he was hunched over.

"He's fine, Yang," The person said, "Jauney boy was made tougher than that!"

"Not know Marcy," Jaune groaned.

"C'mon Jaune," Marcy smiled, "You know the drill. Just take breaths."

Jaune chuckled. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

"I think you're trying to be  _ cute~ _ " Marcy teased as she hugged his back.

"I think you're trying to make me vomit," Jaune smiled.

"Excuse me," Marcy looked up to see Yang looking not amused. "I think you should leave him alone."

"Oh, c'mon blondie," The gray-haired teen smiled, "I'm just trying to calm my boyfriend here."

Jaune groaned even more but not because of his motion sickness.

Yang actually felt threatened. She met her match in both personality and physique. But combat, she would see.

"Thanks, Marcy," Jaune stretched causing him to sigh in relief, "I feel better already."

"No problem! It's what I do the best!" Marcy smirked, "I got to go to my team now! Bye!"

"I got to go too," Yang said, "I got to make sure Weiss is still okay."

"Don't you mean Ruby?" Jaune inquired.

"No, Ruby's fine," Yang smiled, "It's Weiss who I am worried about."

"Well, thanks for the company you two," Jaune smiled, "I really appreciate both of you beautiful girls."

Yang and Marcy gained a similar red shade over their cheeks.

Marcy started giggling like a schoolgirl. "Y-Your welcome! See you later, Jaune!" Marcy skipped away happily.

Yang looked at Marcy at astonishment. 'Wow, it takes just one comment from him to make her giggle?' Yang thought.

"You okay Yang?" Jaune asked, "Your face is red like the last time we were on a bullhead. Do you have motion sickness too?"

Yang's eyes widened as she hesitated to find the words to respond to Jaune. "N-No! I just need to check on Ruby!" Yang said as she started to walk away.

"Oh. Um, ok?" Jaune said as he watched Yang swiftly walk away.

Jaune was by himself. 'Huh, girls are weird,' Jaune thought to himself.

** _Ding_ **

" _ Attention all passengers _ ," The pilot spoke through the intercoms. "Sorry for the delay on the flight. Hopefully, no funny but awkward antics have happened. But we will be soon arriving at your destination...

_ Forever Fall Forest." _

**To be continued...**


	9. Chapter 8: Something New

Holy crap.

Jaune was finally on sweet sweet land! He thought he would never see it again!

He quickly ran out of the bullhead and into the grand Emerald Forest.

He just wanted to bend down and kiss the ground! But he wasn't going to do that because that's weird.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" a voice asked behind him.

He turned around to see a girl with white hair and icy blue eyes, smiling.

"Maybe," Jaune smiled, "It depends if you'll stay here with me."

Weiss chuckled. "What if I decide to go?"

"Well, I guess I'll follow you like I always do," Jaune said before instantly regretting it. "Oh crap, that sounded really creepy."

"Well, I definitely heard more inappropriate things from you," Weiss shrugged.

"Yeah, that's true," Jaune scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Attention, students!" Miss Goodwitch called out, "You are tasked with bringing in a single jar of tree sap for Professor Peach's research!"

'Huh, that's weird' Jaune thought to himself. He never even knew there was a professor Peach in Beacon. That sounded like a minor character in some sort of web series that would generate a huge fanbase. Huh, why did Jaune think of that analogy?

"Well, Jaune. Would you perhaps want to accompany me for this task?" Weiss asked with her hands behind her back.

"Uh, sure-" Before Jaune could finish his sentence he was dragged by the Schnee Heiress further into the forest, leaving a disappointed red-haired spartan warrior.

"Dang," Nora said excitedly to Ren, "Jaune is intermingling with other teams!"

"Nora, inside voices please."

"Why would I use an inside voice when I am outside!"

Ren sighed knowing that conversing about this would lead to a lot of circular reasoning.

JNPR (minus the J) weren't the only ones reacting to Weiss and Jaune's little moment.

"Why would Weiss leave my sister!" Yang asked, irritated.

"Yang! It's fine," Ruby said, trying to calm the dragon down, "Weiss asked me if she could hang out with Jaune."

"I guess," Yang said, still irritated but for different reasons. Reasons that may or may not include a certain blond-haired alchemist.

"Maybe Weiss wants some privacy with him," Blake suggested, showing little attention for the heiress or knight.

"Wow, look at them go," Marcy whistled with forced enthusiasm, trying to hide her jealousy.

"I didn't expect Weiss to be so forward with a boy. Especially Jaune," Emerald remarked as she began collecting some sap from nearby trees, trying to ignore the fact that Jaune and Weiss are most likely having their little "moment".

Neo shared her teammates' concerns and looked quite irked by the couple going deep into a forest alone. Where no one could see them or see what they will be doing with each other. Neo _tried_ to shake off these thoughts.

Cinder, on the other hand, was watching something else. She watched a certain team, led by an overgrown ginger brat, snickering to themselves as they sneaked away from everyone else. Team CRDL then started traveling in the general direction of Jaune and Weiss.

Cinder knew they were up to no good.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"So, Weiss mind telling me why we're far away from everyone?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, so we c-could get m-more sap!" Weiss had an uncharacteristic blush painted on her pale face.

"Um, ok."

Jaune continued to walk with Weiss, who was still holding Jaune's right hand.

'Great job, Weiss,' Weiss mentally scolded, 'You just had to rush everything and grab his hand. Great job at making things not awkward!'

"Weiss, you have been suspiciously quiet this entire time," Jaune commented, causing Weiss' eyes to widen slightly.

"Oh! W-Well I-I'm just focused on finding the right tree!" Weiss reasoned with a strained smile.

"Are you okay?"

"Yup! I am just peachy!" Weiss chirped forcefully, "Oh look! A tree let's go over there."

"Weiss, we're in a forest. You have to be a little more specific."

Weiss' ears were boiling hot at this point. 'Oh screw it!' She thought as she yanked Jaune's right hand and pulled him to a tree.

"Wha- Weiss!"

"I'll just show you the tree!"

"Uh okay."

"This one!" Weiss pointed.

And soon both were collecting sap from the tree. One collecting the sap with haste while the other was collecting sap with composure. Guess which one was which.

"Weiss, are you okay?" Jaune asked once more.

"Y-Yes. How many times must I inform you Jaune?" Weiss said as she continued to collect sap swiftly.

"Oh sorry," Jaune sheepishly smiled, "I'll try to remember next time."

Weiss smiled internally. Despite so many years without seeing each other, Jaune was still the same. She was stunned that their _experiment _and the outcomes of it didn't affect Jaune mentally.

"No, I'm sorry Jaune," Weiss said as she placed her hand once more on Jaune's metal hand. "I'm just being a bit of a dolt."

"Heh, that's assuring," Jaune chuckled.

…

…

…

"So, I discovered a new form of Alchemy," Jaune said, breaking the prolonged silence.

"Really?" Weiss asked, intrigued, "What is it?"

"It's called Alkahestry," Jaune explained the form of Alchemy and how it is used for medical purposes and originated in Menagerie.

"Wow, I have played with the idea that Alchemy could be used for medical purposes," Weiss explained, "But I would've never thought that there was a variation for it just for those kinds of services."

"Yeah, it is pretty dang cool."

"It sounds like it. Have you practiced it yet?"

"Nope, just researching for now."

"I can't wait for you to actually ."

…

…

…

"Hey Weiss," Jaune softly called out, both breaking the silence once more and getting Weiss' attention.

"What is it Jaune?" Weiss inquired.

"Do you like me?"

…

…

…

_'Shit'_ Weiss cursed mentally, 'What do I tell Jaune? I thought he was a dense idiot!'

But before any of the two could speak, something interrupted them.

"HAUL ASS!"

* * *

**/~/**

**(A little earlier)**

* * *

"Alright boys," Cardin smirked as he ducked under a bush that was behind both Jaune and Weiss. He then handed out jars of sap, which caused a swarm of wasps to be attracted to the applied area, to his goons.

"What was the plan again?" One of Cardin's teammates asked.

"Oh C'mon, how dimwitted can you possibly be?" Cardin growled, "Just aim for that stuck up Schnee brat and that _Full Metal _freak."

"Then what?"

"Then we enjoy the show," Cardin smiled mischievously.

"Wow, what a great plan!"

"Of course, it's a great plan," Cardin grinned, "I made it!"

"On the contrary," A female voice intervened.

CRDL turned around and saw a raven-haired girl with amber eyes staring them down with disgust.

"I can't say I expected a whole lot from a bunch of overgrown pigs," Cinder sighed, "But, somehow you still disappoint. And because of that, I won't let you carry this idiotic plan out."

"Yeah?" Cardin grinned, "You can't set us on fire because you'll set the entire forest on fire."

Cinder hummed. "True," Cinder agreed, "I'll just beat you all up with my hands then."

Team CRDL broke out into laughter causing a large vein to pop out on Cinder's forehead. Cardin then got a brilliantly idiotic idea and picked up a jar of sap.

"Hey, fire-bitch!"

"Fire-bitch?" Cinder growled.

"Catch!" Cardin then threw the jar at Cinder.

It got closer.

And closer.

There was a sense of pride and smugness coming from CRDL because of their "wit".

But that quickly went away when Cinder caught the jar in mid-air. She didn't even flinch.

"Whoa," The spiky-haired team member of CRDL said, trying to hide that they were impressed.

"That was clean," The green-haired kid said.

"What the fuck," Cardin growled.

"First, language," Cinder said, "Second, you call that a throw? That felt like a paper bag being tossed around in the wind. And third, make sure you take the cap off if you plan to cover your enemies in this…"

Cinder then unscrew the jar and dipped her glove finger in it and brought a dip of the substance to her mouth.

"Hornet sap," Cinder finished with a smug smile on her face.

"You better wipe that shit-eating grin off your face," Cardin growled once more as he reached his mace.

Cinder saw this and proceeded to throw the opened jar at the brats. Cardin swung at the jar hoping to hit it back like an idiot, but the force of the jar being contacted with the mace caused it to break, getting the sap all over team CRDL.

"Oh crap," Cardin said as he looked at his arms being covered in sap.

"Uh, Cardin what do we do?" One of CRDL's team members asked.

"HAUL ASS!" Cardin screamed. CRDL ran off into the forest from a bunch of angry wasps.

Amongst the chaos, it was quite hard to gather one's thoughts. But Cinder knew one thing.

She was certainly enjoying the show.

"Cinder?" An instantly recognizable voice asked. Cinder looked over to see Jaune and Weiss looking confused.

"Hey, Jaune," Cinder had a smile, but instantly went away when she saw Weiss. "Oh, you're here too."

Weiss simply scoffed.

"What happened?" Jaune asked.

"Well, Cardin and his goonies tried to pull a juvenile prank on you all," Cinder explained. She then looked extremely proud. "But thanks to yours truly, I safely-"

She was cut off by a swift swipe intercepting her back. Soon blood was soaked into her red combat dress. She fell on the forest floor with a heavy thud.

"Cinder!" Jaune shouted as he lunged forward to help her. As he got closer he realized what had happened. There was an Ursa Major towering over Cinder's motionless body. But it simply looked at it, instead of most Grimm creatures, which would usually ravage their victims.

Jaune wasted no time in clapping his hands together, forming a blade at the end of his metal arm. Weiss got her rapier ready and lunged along with Jaune.

Weiss quickly shot a wave of ice at the creature but the Ursa Major quickly dodged by somersaulting forwards toward Jaune. Jaune saw his chance as he lunged close to it and tried to wipe his blade across the creature's chest but it moved away once again by backing up into the wall of ice, shattering it almost instantly.

'What the hell?' Jaune asked himself, 'Why isn't it attacking us? It's just retreating. It's like it doesn't want to hurt me. That's not like a Grimm at all.'

'It's showing restraint,' Weiss thought to herself as she tried to get the beast. 'It also moves way too quickly to be a regular Grimm beast.'

Something wasn't right. This whole entire scenario doesn't make sense. Where the hell did the Ursa Major come from? The teachers should've swept the area thoroughly to prevent these disturbances. It was almost like it just materialized out of nowhere. Almost like it was waiting for something.

"You should check on your girlfriend. She's looking paler than usual!" The Grimm laughed.

Jaune and Weiss' eyes went wide and the color from their face drained.

"Did it just?" Weiss said, dumbfounded.

"Uh oh, guess Lust was right," The Grimm said, putting a claw to its chin, "I do run my mouth too much."

Jaune clapped his hands together and placed it on the ground causing a dome to form around it. But it was destroyed in an instant and red electricity and debris surrounded the area.

When everything had cleared, the creature was still there. And one thought went across both Weiss and Jaune's minds.

The creature just performed Alchemy.

"How is that-" Jaune didn't know what to think.

"Seriously kid. I wouldn't be asking questions now," The Grimm said, "I am quite concerned about all that blood coming from your friend."

Jaune and Weiss looked behind him to see Cinder both unconscious and bleeding. She was practically leaking blood.

'Crap,' Jaune cursed. He looked back at the Grimm to only see it long gone. He didn't waste time and dashed toward Cinder with Weiss.

"We need to put pressure on the wound," Weiss said, in an urgent tone.

Jaune didn't need to be told twice as he took off his sweater to cover up Cinder's wounds. He carefully put pressure on the sweatshirt, in turn, putting pressure on the oozing wound.

Weiss was quick in messaging her teammates and Goodwitch with her scroll. She also messaged Cinder's teammates.

'_Agh! _She is still losing blood!' Jaune mentally detected, 'We have to find another way to stop it!'

That was when something clicked in Jaune's heads. He could use Alchemy to save Cinder! The book he read a while ago on the alternative form on Alchemy, Alkahestry.

"Weiss, stay back," Jaune instructed as he quickly started drawing a circle, which had a star in the center, on the area where Cinder's wound was with his blood-soaked hands. He quickly pushed his hands together causing a blinding blue light.

Weiss did as instructed. 'Can Alchemy really help her?' Weiss asked herself. She then watched Jaune desperately hold his hands together which were shaking violently. 'It looks like he's praying.'

"C'mon! Hold in there, Cinder!" Jaune said, not letting up on his attempt to save her.

Little did Jaune or Weiss know, Cinder was witnessing something far beyond anyone's reach.

* * *

**/~/**

* * *

"Where am I?" A raven-haired teen asked herself.

Her amber eyes scanned her surroundings and observed that she was in a vast empty white void. She would describe her surroundings as blinding but they never caused her eyes to squint in irritation. She observed what was in front of her and at her sides. She then turned around to see a large set of stone doors with some sort of chart like carvings engraved into them.

Cinder was able to deduce that they were doors in the first place because of a thin opening in the middle of the stone. It was so thin that only a knife could fit through there.

'Where did they lead to?' Cinder asked herself mentally.

"Am I dead?" Cinder asked herself aloud.

"No, not yet," A voice answered, startling the teen.

Cinder turned around and saw a humanoid figure surrounded by a black aura. Cinder felt a strong urge to run away from this being. But her feet remained planted.

"You are simply in shock," The figure explained, "Typical of humans. Can't decide if their soul wants to pass or remain with their body. What puzzling creatures. At least this one seems to want to remain. It has wants. Desires. And a surplus of ambitions. This one has much more visions than the other mortals."

Cinder was confused. The figure kept referring to her as if it didn't see humans very much. "Who are you?" Cinder asked.

The figure sighed. "I usually don't like monologues but I don't want to be outdone by my brother." The figure cleared its throat. "I am everything. I am everywhere. I am not sought after nor am I not unwanted. I am necessary as much as the air you breathe and exhale. You may know me better as the God of Darkness."

Cinder's eyes widened slightly. She opened her mouth but no words came out.

"Hey don't act like that. I know it wasn't good since I made it up on the spot," The God of Darkness said, disappointment evident in its voice, "Have some sort of reaction. You're in the presence of a God for crying out loud."

The figure sighed once more. "Why couldn't Light take this one?" Suddenly the figure seemed distracted. "Well bully for you, you'll be leaving here in one piece for now."

"Wait! What do you mean by that?" Cinder demanded.

"Oh, you'll see," The figure said and then it perked its head up as it remembered something. "Oh yeah, you might wake up with a headache."

"Wait-"

"Humans really like saying "wait" a lot," The God of Darkness commented before Cinder held her head in pain.

She couldn't determine whether she was moving around or not. But she could definitely determine many changes within herself. She felt flashes of Alchemy. She previously thought Alchemy as beyond her own comprehension. Until this moment. She felt her mind spiraling both around her head and in confusion. She was overwhelmed with so much at once. She didn't even know where she was anymore. A feeling of a need for knowledge seeped into her soul. She wanted more of this! This could give her the power to accomplish her dreams!

"Interesting," The God of Darkness's voice rang out in Cinder's ears, "It seems that Light missed out."

In an instant, everything stopped and light-filled her eyes causing her eyelids to nearly close in irritation. Her eye's soon adjusted to her new surroundings. She looked around once more to see whether she was still in the white void. She was relieved, once it was apparent to her that she was no longer in that anomaly of a place. She was instead tucked in a bed located in Beacon's medical wing.

She then felt a weight on the bed next to her lower half. She looked down to see a head of blond messy hair. Instantly, _almost_ all her worries about what had happened went away as she quickly recognized the face of a drooling Arc. She took her gloveless right hand and ran it over Jaune's head. Her hand was as gentle as a thief's hand carefully pick-pocketing an unsuspecting victim. She could see bags under his eyes and his hair somehow looked messier on a second look.

Her chest filled with a warm sensation that she was all too familiar with.

"Maybe I should wake him up," Cinder softly asked herself. But she quickly denied the notion, wanting to make this moment last longer.

"You're finally awake." Were the words that brought her out of her romantic trance. She looked up to see a certain heiress at the doorway of the room with her arms crossed.

"Good job, you have eyes," Cinder smirked, causing Weiss to roll her eyes.

"I see your mind is still damaged," Weiss smirked back.

"What happened?" Cinder asked, ignoring Weiss' comments.

"To put it simply," Weiss sighed as she walked over to the side of Cinder's bed that had a sleeping Jaune. "You almost died and Jaune saved you."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, if you insist," Weiss' lips couldn't help but slightly tense upward.

"Hold it. Don't go all exposition mode on me," Cinder said.

"What does that mean?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms.

"I think you're smart enough to figure that out," Cinder smirked.

Weiss clicked her tongue in annoyance and began to recount to Cinder all the events that had occurred during Cinder's absence. Weiss summarized what had happened with the Grimm creature causing Cinder's eyes to widen.

"It talked?" Cinder asked, shocked.

Weiss nodded.

"And it performed Alchemy?"

Weiss once again nodded.

"And Jaune performed an extremely risky form of Alchemy on me?"

"Are you going to just repeat what I just told you?"

"Are you going to just be an annoying brat?"

"Are you going to just be a bitch?"

Before Cinder could insult her any further, she heard a soft yawn, which came from a sleeping Jaune. Both Weiss and Cinder couldn't help but admire the blond knight.

Cinder started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked.

"Oh it's nothing," Cinder smiled, as she ran her hand through Jaune's hair. "I find it humorous that a boy is able to stop us from killing each other."

"Jaune has that ability," Weiss sighed.

There was then a moment of silence between the two girls and the sleeping boy.

"Why do you hate me?" Weiss asked.

Cinder took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry to say this. But there is a high chance that I am going to go on a permanent hiatus on all my stories on this account. I don't like writing this kind of stuff anymore. I enjoy reading it but definitely not writing it. It was fun while it lasted. But at a point, I realized that this story just didn't click with me anymore. I made this story way too convoluted and it just isn't as good as I want it to be. This made me realized that I don't have enough talent to do this kind of story. I was heavily influenced by Parcasious and how they wrote their stories. Parcasious is a writer worth more your time and support than me.**

**I want to thank everyone for reading this fanfic. I don't regret writing this story and I am glad I did. I know it's far from perfect but it brings me so much joy knowing that people genuinely liked this story. I wanted to finish this last chapter before I decide to do this.**

**I want people to know that anyone can take the ideas from my stories and use them (I don't know why you would but that's cool). You don't need to ask for permission to continue any of my stories because you already have it. So good luck to those who want to do that.**

**Keep in mind that my stories are on hiatus, not my account. I'll probably be active for a while but I just won't write stories.**

**Damn. Sorry for the essay. I'll finish the drafts and put something like this at the end of it.**

**Once again.**

**I'm sorry.**


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